Happy Birthday Connor!

11 years ago today our lives changed forever....we were no longer just Ali and Chris...we were blessed to receive our new names...Mom and Dad.  I remember the first time I looked down upon this sweet face and when I remember how much I loved this child in that instant it still amazes me. What I didn't know is that I would continue to love him more and more each day.

I was telling Connor about his first birthday this morning and confessed that I cried while buying him balloons for his party. I was so sad that I didn't have a baby anymore!  Can you believe that I also cried (a bit) this morning watching him walk out the door with his boxes of donuts?  It hit me that this will be the last time that we do the birthday treat ritual for school.  How did 11 years go by so fast? 

Happy Birthday Connor!

We love you so much and hope you have a wonderful, joyful and healthy year ahead.

xoxo

I spent the day trying to make today special.  (This is about the extent of my cake decorating skills; thank goodness he appreciated the effort!)

I also treated him to a batch of his favorite cookies.  "Nana cookies!" 

Caroline was my big helper and placed the candles in the cake.  

"Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday to You, Happy Birthday Dear Connor, Happy Birthday to YOU!!"

And this is what he bought with Dad tonight at Best Buy! It took all his birthday money, but he was

thrilled when he came home!



 An unrelated picture but one I wanted to share nevertheless. This is how Caroline has been spending

most of her free time....with her nose buried in books!  Makes my heart flutter~I love that she is a bookworm like her mama :)

Happy Birthday Nana!

Happy Birthday Mom!  We love you so much and hope you had a wonderful day celebrating!  Even though you just left us on Wednesday we already miss you can't wait until our next visit!

I love my mother as the trees love water and sunshine - she helps me grow, prosper, and reach great heights. ~Terri Guillemets

Easter Sunday

We hosted Easter dinner this year and had a wonderful day enjoying the company of family.  I really tried to relax and pay a bit more attention to the "magic" of the holiday because I have a sneaking suspicion that this is probably the last year that Caroline believes in the Easter Bunny.  She started asking lots of questions like, "Mom....how does ONE bunny deliver candy to every kid in just one night?"  I was caught a little off guard but got good laugh when I tried to deflect the question by asking her, "well...how does Santa do it?"  and she replied, "Uh, Mom...he has flying reindeer." She also mentioned more than once that she thought that I put the candy in the basket so we'll see. 

Thankfully this year she still wanted to leave out some carrots and thankfully Connor volunteered to nibble on them!

A sweet picture that she drew of the Easter Bunny. (At the last minute she decided that we shouldn't leave this out....what happens of he came looking for her to say thank you???)



Caroline's basket





Connor's basket



Caroline and Jack Brooks getting ready to hunt some eggs! Thank you Connor for hiding the eggs in the front and back yard...couldn't have done it without you sweetie :)



Of course there was some trampoline jumping :)  I love watching JB on the trampoline~pure joy!



We also celebrated some birthdays!  Happy Birthday Grammy, Jack Brooks and Connor.



Sweet treats made by Ali! 



Such a fun filled day.  The kiddos go back to school tomorrow and we celebrate Connor's birthday on Wednesday so more pictures to come!