Eli and Landon Turn 4!

For the first time ever, I celebrated a birthday without inviting 100 people, slaving over handmade details, and using every spare moment of several weeks to prepare. It was kind of by chance that it happened like it did. It was kind of a procrastination meets low-energy meets an I just want to enjoy this situation. And it was totally liberating.

Eli and Landon's birthday fell on a Monday this year, so the Saturday before, we had a small family party with just the five of us, my mom, Mike, Katelyn, and Neva. We had a laid back day, ate their favorite meal for lunch (One Pot Pasta), opened presents, and had cake and ice cream. Then we just played with their new toys and hung out together. That night, we went to the Big Bash at the Preston's, which is a fish fry, hayride, singing, and hot chocolate kind of gathering each year. We sang to them again out there and they had a blast riding the thrilling hayride over and over again.

On Monday, we invited Eli and Landon's friends from their Bible class over for a small party. We had pizza and cupcakes and opened presents and played. It was laid back and fun!

This year, for their birthday, the boys got: GeoTrax, Board Games, HorriBalls (don't ask), Clothes (always a favorite of mine), and a Puppy Dog (more on that later).

I always love celebrating my boys and there is just something about that day in history that makes me so conflicted with joy/thanksgiving and a little bit of sadness as I remember just how I felt the moments leading up to Eli and Landon entering this world. And pretty much the whole next month while they stayed in the hospital. Looking back, I now realize that it wasn't quite as scary as I thought at the time, although for a first-time mom it was pretty much terrifying. They were pretty stable and just needed time to grow and learn to eat. And I also realize that the experiences with Eli and Landon were invaluable preparation as we faced what we have with Harper. And for that reason (and others), I count our rough start with our boys a blessing in disguise. They have taught me a lot in their four short years and these precious boys are definitely two of my greatest blessings.

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby boys.

The pictures are seriously lacking for some reason. I didn't get any pictures with Nemo, Grammy, G-Pa, and Katelyn, or with Me and Dustin, or with their friends at the party. I'm just not really sure what I was doing the whole time. I took the whole "laid back" thing a little too far, I guess. 

 We sang Happy Birthday to them individually this year.

Of course, I forgot to take any pictures once their friends arrived because I'm really on top of things like that.