slammin sammy is FIVE!!!!

if i close my eyes, i can see his tiny little newborn body in my arms. squishy and pale, tons of wet black hair, and slanty dark brown eyes...







feels like it was yesterday. instead, it was five years ago!

amazing.

samuel's special day started with him getting to pick breakfast:eggs, sausage and waffles. (pretty much what he eats every single morning!)

tonight we had yummy cupcakes and sang happy birthday for the 100th time...we try to sing it as many times as possible in one day!

our family tradition is that the special birthday person gets to pick one friend to come over and enjoy whatever dinner and dessert the birthday person picks. well, this year, samuel picked his cousin benjamin as his one special friend...so thanks to Gram and Papa, benjamin and our sweet sister in law, rebecca, are flying down in a couple weeks to stay a few days and celebrate samuel with us! samuel is very excited and has many plans already set in his mind!

here are some pics of samuel on his special day...as well as a few of him doing his favorite things: being BatMan and pretending to be SurvivorMan...making a "fire" out front in our yard!

on being candid

i read recently that candid means being honest with someone while keeping in the forefront the feelings and respect of that person.

Grace Based Parenting...it's a book by Dr. Tim Kimmel. in it he speaks of how a "grace based home" is one where people have the freedom to be candid...without fear of retaliation.

He also speaks of how this same home is one where you are free to make mistakes, without fear of judgment or condemnation...sounds so good in my mind, but hard to live out. not the mistake part i mean, we've got plenty of those to go around...it's the "freedom to make 'em part" that i find hard to swallow.

Each time i find myself wanting to freak out over a mistake (usually just the ones that get made over and over and over!), i am gently reminded of how patient God is with me. He continually gives me the freedom to be candid, and the freedom to make mistakes. His love never changes, His grace never fails. He never thinks me an idiot, nor does He wap me upside my head(which i would justly deserve of course!).

The sweet grace of God...how truly amazing it is indeed.

cousin fun

here are more fotos from when Ellie and her awesome humans came to visit us!!!

you can see Ellie sweetly resting on Rebecca's lap...her most favorite place to be!


we had 11 people and one doggie in a one bath, 1100 sq foot house! COZY! :)


statistics show that the bigger the home you live in, the less close, emotionally, the family becomes.

The opposite holds true as well. :)

So Cal Ellie

a sweet "weiner dog" named Ellie


joined our family while her humans (my brother, sister in law, and their kids!!) enjoyed Disney Land(and us!!)!






As you can see from the fotos, Ellie had a blast!!


She was given several fashion tips as well as learning how to manage her bad breath with flossing.




There were a few moments of pure chaos, at which time Ellie would promptly put her self to bed in her "safe place"...her little doggie crate.






i know it looks like she is barely able to tolerate all of the attention, but we like to think that under her stoic look is a big smile! Really, she's laughing on the inside!


She really smiled when her humans came back! Actually, we all did...the cousins had a non-stop blast playing all kinds of games, making crafts, doing "shows" and even throwing a party on saturday night for us moms!

It was super short but super fun...we miss them all heaps!