My baby boy is 5!

Can you believe it?  Peder is 5 years old today.  FIVE!  Seriously, how did that happen.  He was snuggling with me this afternoon and overflows all over the place when he sits on my lap.  Was it really 5 years ago that I could hold him in one arm  and he would sit so easily in the crook of my arm.

Look at him now.  Isn't he just an adorable little boy?  My gosh that smile can totally light up my day.  Look at how happy he is with his 24 mini-cupcakes he picked out for his birthday cake (he'll get a fancy Scooby Doo one for his birthday party in a couple weeks).  We were singing happy birthday to him and he just looked at me with that sweet smile of his. 

Here he is with all of his presents from our little family.  He got a cowboy hat and Sheriff badge from me and Jake, a lasso from Mari and a pair of chaps from Emmy.  He is all ready to be a cowboy.

When he was all done opening his gifts he said, "Thank you so much you guys!  I LOVE IT!  Everything is so cute."  That made me tear up.  Oh my gosh!  I am SO proud to be his mommy.  Happy Birthday to my little Sweet P.

Peder's Birthday and Party

It's been awhile since I've posted and a lot has happened since then.  Jake and I celebrated our 7th Anniversary, Peder turned 4 and had his first preschool friends birthday party, and Halloween has come and gone.  I'm going to try to post a bunch of posts in the next couple of days with some of the high points of these events.

We'll start off with Peder's birthday and party.  We had his party at Pump It Up again this year and invited his preschool class.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and when I asked one of his friends if she had fun, she told me, "Yeah!  IT WAS AWESOME!"

This is what our backyard looked like on Peder's birthday.  Who expects snow that sticks on October 12th?  Our camper was still up and all our outdoor stuff was still out.

Peder opening his favorite present (from Emmy) on his birthday.  He got Woody, Buzz Lightyear and RC from Emmy, a craft box from Emmy and an art set from Jake and me.

Cupcakes on his actual birthday.

Daddy and Emmy going down the slide.

Grandpa Warren and Mari after going down the slide.  Grandpa didn't break his toe this year.

Grandma Cindi coming out of the obstacle course.  I love that I got this picture!  :)

Peder's cousin Jenna and Mari coming out of the obstacle course.

Grandpa Warren, Peder's cousin Marissa and Peder bouncing in the basketball court.  Grandpa and Grandma were busy making them FLY in there.  Peder and Marissa were pretty much inseparable the entire party.

Marissa, Peder and one of Peder's classmates holding hands and waiting to go into the party room for cake.

The cupcakes Jake made to make sure we had enough cake for everyone.

The fancy decorated cake that Jake made.  It was a hit!

Peder blowing out his candles.

Birthday Party

Ready for picture overload? These are all from the girls' birthday party yesterday. Including our little family of 5, there were 32 people there. It was a blast....and exhausting. All of us were just zonked afterwards.

Sitting on the blanket waiting to open presents.

All the presents...very generous family members! The buckets were our goodie bags for all the kids. There was candy and some toys in there. The younger girls all got dress up stuff in theirs. SO EXCITING!

Everyone hanging out during cake and present time.

Emmy getting Happy Birthday sung to her. She seemed somewhat confused.

Mari on the other hand, loves to be sung to and actually sang too. She's been walking around the house singing, "Happy, happy, HAPPEEEEEEEE!"

The cakes made it safely to the park. Thanks Dad!

Peder played in the pool for about 45 minutes and then crashed and slept in my mom's arms until it was time for cake and presents.

Jake and some of his family hanging out in the pool and playing.

Emmy loving Great Aunt Debbie's Sunglasses...she eventually was wearing them herself, the little fashionista.

My Grandpa Diekmann, Uncle Mark and Dad hanging out with Mari. Mari saw my dad and ditched me for him...then snuggled him good.

Where we set up all our stuff and some of the family hanging out there.

The pool....SO exciting for little kids.

Me hanging out in the pool with Emmy.

The castle cake Jake made. I baked the cake and made the towers out of Rice Crispy bars. Jake made the fondant and did all the decorating. This was Emmy's cake.

I baked this cake and Jake did all the carving, decorating, etc. on this too. Isn't he a fabulous dad?

My Babies are Two!

Two years ago today my baby girls were born. After a difficult pregnancy, uncertainty and finally excitement, they arrived at 10:30 and 10:31a. My beautiful baby girls were born and I knew our family was complete. We never thought we'd be a family of 5, but I can't imagine anything else or anything better.

So now here we are, 2 years later. My babies are no longer babies and it has been quite the ride. I think back to that day and I cry. Not only because it was such a scary day, but because I am SO thankful to now have 2 happy, healthy girls that exhaust me with their playing and fighting, rather then being exhausted because I've been sleeping in a hospital for days on end.

Today's Smileys are all about my girls and their birthday!

1. The girls still love to snuggle with me. This picture is from the day they were born, right before Emmy was transferred to Children's. I had to get a picture of us girls.

Me reading to the girls tonight before bed. I love my snugglebugs.

2. Funfetti Birthday cake with buttercream frosting. YUM!

3. How happy the girls got when they realized that the song we were singing was just for them....one at a time.

Mari with her cake.

Emmy with her cake. (Don't you love the happy smiles?)

4. The fact that the box their birthday present came in became a toy too. Even Jake got invited to play in there!

5. The new house in our backyard.

6. Seeing their new present for the first time. "WHOA!"

7. The new aprons the girls got from my sister for their birthday. The package came in the mail today and I just about died because of how cute they are. They also came with oven mitts, a hot pad and a wooden spoon. They also got a new cook book. HOW CUTE ARE THEY?

Emmy modeling. Notice that she put her own shoes on?

Mari very confused as to why I wanted her to stand so far away from me. She just wanted to climb into my lap right away. But I HAD to get a picture of how cute they are in their aprons.

8. All the birthday wishes the girls go. Such nice family and friends!

9. Taking the girls shopping to get all the stuff for their birthday party on Saturday. We were gone all morning, I was in pain the rest of the day, but we had a good time and it was nice to get out of the house.

10. Peder helped me make and decorate the girls' cakes. He was SO excited to help that he started crying when he thought he wouldn't be able to. He is such a good big brother.

11. The girls giving each other hugs all the way through Target. It was so sweet.

12. My little family of 5 and the love that lives here.