riley turns 4

i can't leave out these pic. Riley's actual birthday was the day after our blowout party day.  as tradition would have it, we woke him up with singing and balloons.  

he LOVES the attention!

and playing with balloons is a highlight for all the kids in the family!

we grabbed up some yummy doughnuts on our way to church and, as always, he chose a pink iced one!  hilarious for the kid that won't watch doc mcstuffins because "it's a girl show!!"  HA!

so proud of this guy!  he's really growing up and has come a LONG way from the potty training and big boy days that we are currently struggling through with griff!!  i get one more year with this face at home... better make the most of it!!!

Birthday weekend

our two littlest boys have birthdays five days apart.  so last weekend was the birthday bash!  now, our bashes look different than most peoples.  we don't invite a ton of friends, we don't have party favors, there aren't even invitations.  the simple fact is that when time is limited the thing that i don't want to give in on is each kid feeling loved by their family.  so we simplify- and let me say... riley's bucket was full at the end of the weekend.  (griff... was a little confused about what was going on.  ha!)

both sets of grandparents were able to come for the weekend which made everything just that much sweeter!!  we spent saturday morning playing and opened some gifts after lunch.

riley's favorites were a movie

and rescue bots (which seems to be a boy addiction around here!!)

griff enjoyed his football and also shared one of his gifts which is a family pass to the science museum

riley got surprised by a big boy bike that we've kept hidden for the last six months (another amazing steal of a deal at the ccc sale).

this bike has no training wheels because he's been riding a balance bike for a year and didn't need them.  sooo cool to skip the training wheels!

we enjoyed some ninja cake after present opening

and even used the icing for some good laughs

and then headed outside for some biking riding and cheering on!

i've noticed since having children, i don't ever take pics with my parents so i redeemed that problem.

and got a few other cute ones too.

that evening, we loaded up the whole clan and headed to benihanas.  seems like an odd and expensive choice, i'm sure.  however, we drive by this place about three to four times a week and riley has been asking to have his birthday there since last april.  since we were celebrating two boys and there was no other expenses we thought we could swing it.  

the big kids were just as excited to go!

we finally got a family pic that isn't from 2011.

let the party begin!!

we had 15 people total and had a really fun time watching the kids be amazed by the cooking in front of them

this is lance's folks (aka poppy and grammie)

taylor and blake (my beutiful nieces)

jeni and travis (my sis and hubs to be) with his son riley (aka: big riley)

my oldest boy with my youngest boy. ;)

mimi and big bday boy in their crazy hats

my folks (aka: pawpaw and mimi)

at the end of the evening everyone got a ninja cake pop... this was griffin's "cake" and we called it DONE!! ;)

grace- even for this

Our neighbors had a baby, their first baby...  cute, little bundle named Parker.  We really wanted to see him and hear their fun labor and delivery story so my man and I thought it perfectly fine to pop over after our four had fallen asleep.  Usually, once they are asleep they sleep soundly until, I don't know maybe 2 or 3 in the morning (insert tired mom laugh here). Once we knew they were on their way to dream land, we walked over and visited with this sweet family.  I would look out their front window from time to time to make sure everything looked calm at our house and I never caught any action.  I'm sure you can see where this is going.

When we returned to the house we found the front door locked.  Upon looking through one of the windows we could tell that our oldest was not in her bed.  We tapped, knocked, and banged on her window for what seemed like far too long.  Where was she? What have we done? Why was she not coming to the door? If we couldn't get her to come to the door maybe one of the boys would wake up and come - we tried their window.  Again tapping, then knocking, then banging.  Finally, from our son's bed, we see our daughter sit up.  What?  What was happening in there?

She opened the door and retold the whole story...
"He was crying and screaming real loud and it woke me up.  when I asked him what was wrong he said he could find mom or dad. I went looking everywhere for y'all.  I checked the garage and the backyard.  I went in all the bathrooms and checked in the baby's room.  then I started crying.  I looked in the front yard and when I came back I didn't want anyone to get me so I locked the door! Then, we just climbed up in his bed.  I held his hand, prayed with him and we fell asleep."

Listening to her recount their anxiousness was heart wrenching.... just awful!  There hasn't been a moment when I felt more like a loser than that moment.  I didn't sleep most of the night and just kept wondering how I could put a personal desire over the security of my own children. Looking back on it, it seems like a no brainer - BAD CHOICE!!  However, I'm grateful that my God quickly reminded me that His grace is good in these moments too. Did we sin? No.  But He's all over our ignorant choices too.  If we didn't make them, we would need HIM!

I love Romans 5:2 which says, "Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." For those of us that know Christ - we have no excuse... that grace is ours to have.  Rather wallow in what a dumb choice i made, i had to stand in HIS grace, laugh at our mistake, and realize this is only one of many poor choices we will make as parents.  Thank goodness for his impartial grace!!

our sleep habits

there is something about siscos.... 

they have strange sleep habits...

caleb with his head in a hooded blanket

riley, covered in stuffed animals, with his hand in his pants

and griffin... what can i say... when you're climbing out of your bed in the middle of the night... you'll take any sleep you can get.