Happy Birthdays!

So I feel like a really crappy mom that I wasn't able to share the boys' birthdays on this blog. They both unfortunately fell during our move (Mark's right before and Gavin's right after). So I didn't have the access to internet to share the details. But rest assured we made their days as special as we possibly could. Mark got to have a day with a friend from KS & we went to Dave & Busters. He elected to not have a birthday cake, but a birthday apple pie instead! lol We had a great time & he got the iPod he has been wanting. (I don't think he's put it down since!) Gavin's birthday was a low key day at home. That's actually what the poor guy wanted: just a day at home with all of us hanging out. (I guess he's been getting sick of all the running around we've been needing to do). But he had a nice day and got this massive Lego Harry Potter set he's had his eye on (of course!) (and then he set the whole thing up in about an hour. lol!) Oh, my crazy kid. :)

So fast forward to now & it's Natalie's turn! My little baby girl turned THREE this weekend! Holy cow where does the time go? It was a bittersweet day because especially as the kids have been little, we always make time to have a big family party for each of them. Of course, being so far away from family that just wasn't in the cards this year. But we had a beautiful day to work with and we let her choose what she wanted to do. First we went to the farmer's market where she got a bag of kettle corn as big as she is!

Then we went shopping for a little bit and we came home for lunch where she ate some Dora soup. Yep. That's what she wanted! Then she got play at the park for a little while (daddy took the pictures there. Sorry! I don't have them right now!). Then home for dinner & cake & presents! Overall, a pretty good day for a three year old!

(And yes, I have this incessant need to draw with icing on my kids' cakes in an attempt to make them special. This year: Hello Kitty! :) ). All in all I think we had a pretty good day. Though I wish we could've had all of our family around to make it that much better.

With every passing year, celebrating Natalie's birth, I am reminded (as if I could ever for a moment forget) what a true miracle she is. With everything we had to go through to have her, she has taught me to appreciate that much more what blessings all three of my babies are. I don't think we exactly took that for granted before, but I guess we didn't realize it as much as we should have. She gave that gift to us and I will forever be a changed momma because of it. Those who have never been through it would see infertility and loss as a horrible curse. Now that we're on the other side of that tunnel, we choose to see it as a blessing. With our losses & struggles to have our baby girl, God showed us how truly special each little life truly is and what a gift we've been given in each of our kids. And let me tell ya, we've got the three best kiddos a couple could ever ask for! :)