Welcome to Candyland! Happy 4th Birthday Lindy, Will, and Adam

The kids’ 4th birthday was Saturday July 30th.  Where in the world have the last 4 years gone?  How can my babies be 4 years old?  I feel like I just birthed them (well, had them by c-section) yesterday. 

They have turned into such neat little people.  Will is one of the kindest, sweetest little boys in the world.  He just melts my heart when he comes up and tells me loves me or that I’m his best friend.  He has been so happy for Lindy during this summer of potty training and so sad when she has accidents.  He is a seriously smart little boy and is so inquisitive.  His new favorite game is asking us to spell words for him.  All day long (until I tell him enough) he’ll ask us to spell different things.  I know he’s soaking it all up too.  He is a beautiful, blue-eyed boy and I’m blessed to be his mama.

Lindy is still our little miracle child.  She is doing so well in all areas.  He vocabulary astounds us.  She talks all the time now!  She runs and rides her scooter and tries her hardest to keep up with Will.  She can be the cuddliest child and she gives the greatest hugs.  She hugs you tight when she gives you a hug.  She has recently been a mama’s girl, which is a good and bad thing for me!  She has done so well with potty training this summer.  She’s proving to us she can be a big girl!  Lindy is such a funny little thing.  Most of it is unintentional though.  She just does funny things.  She can make the funniest faces that you can’t help but laugh at.  We call her our spirited child because she never stops moving and she has a lot of her own ideas about how things should be.  She is my beautiful girl with gorgeous hair and I’m so blessed to be her mama.

Of course I can’t forget my sweet baby Adam.  This time of year is such a strange time for me.  It’s such a festive time because we are so thankful for Lindy and Will and how far they have come.  When we celebrate their birthday we are truly celebrating that they lived, they persevered and they prospered into amazing four year olds.  So while being excited about Lindy and Will – we mourn Adam.  We mourn that he should be here celebrating his 4th birthday with his brother and sister.   We mourn that we only knew him for 12 hours.  12 hours that he spent fighting for his life.  We miss him.  A lot.  I’ll never understand why we struggled to get pregnant, finally got pregnant (with three babies), and then lost one. 

We had a Candyland party for the kids on Saturday.  When we were deciding on a theme I was thinking how much the kids like to play games these days.  I thought the Candyland could be fun to decorate with so I picked it.  Then I started looking on the internet and found pictures of the old Candyland characters.  When I saw they were a little boy and girl I knew I had to do Candyland! 

The party was fun and I think the kids had a blast.  The only bad part was that our air conditioner could not keep up with the 35 people we had in our house.  It was so hot in here.  I’ll let the pictures tell our day.

Happy Birthday Will!Happy Birthday Lindy!Special birthday breakfast cinnamon rolls.Opening presents from Nana and Papa!  Bikes!!  Welcome to Candyland!  The walkway leading up to the door.The dum-dum wreath!Lollipops in the hallway.Candy on the doorways.A Candyland rug for the playroom!The Candy Shop!The Candyland cake.My sweet birthday girl in her Candyland birthday shirt!My sweet birthday boy in his Candyland birthday shirt.  Our party guests:  My friend Anita and her girls Lily and Edie.Aunt Joan and Uncle Curtis.Anna and Brian.Minu and Aditya, who goes to school with Will.Jared and his dad Jeff.  Jared also goes to school with Will.Janice.Brett, Wendy, Riley, and BerkleyCarrie, Anna, and Rebecca.Jasmine and EliaKris, Katie, Micah, and Claire.Mimo.GrandBob and SuzetteEd, Jamie, and Molly.  We witnessed the second Christmas miracle at the party – Ed smiling in a picture and showing some teeth.  (The first Christmas miracle being my brother-in-law Lee smiling in a picture at the beach!)

We started the party off by playing a Candyland DVD game.  It was really cute and had three little games on it that had the kids up and moving around. 

Next we turned it up a notch with some hard-core Candyland Bingo games!

Next we moved on to cake and ice cream.  Oh wait, I forgot to get the ice cream out so we didn’t have any ice cream.  So we had cake and some snacks!  The kids loved it when we sang happy birthday to them.  As we’ve done each year, we sang to Lindy first and then Will.  She got so excited!  She was slapping her legs and waving her arms.He got this devilish grin when we started singing to him.  He loved it!

We moved onto opening presents.  They got so much stuff.  It was like Christmas around here!  It took me all Sunday to go through everything!

After presents the plan was to send the kids out to bounce in a bounce house that my friend Anita brought with her.  Unfortunately it rained during the party so no bouncing for the kids.  So sad.  We struck up some more bingo games and the kids got to play in the playroom. 

As the guests were leaving they got to go to the candy shop.  They got a candyland bouncy ball, a candyland ring, a candyland sticker and then their choice of candy. 

It was a fun party for the kids. We enjoyed having our friends there to help celebrate with Lindy and Will.

Wendy, Carrie, and I.  High school friends!Me and Anita – college friendsMe and Katie.  Katie is married to Kris – who was Drew’s roommate in Divinity school.  We met through our husbands but we’ve become great friends.Our family - missing one special boy.Seeing off their friends as they left.  That’s a wrap!