Mother's Day

I had a nice Mother's Day today with my boys.  Roy let me sleep in this morning and the boys woke me up with beautiful flowers, a HUGE balloon, and cards.  It was so sweet!  At first I thought maybe the balloon was so big so it would carry me off and we would all have a nice day... ;)  Just kidding!

We all got ready and they took me to lunch. 

My in-laws and brother-in-law and nephew ended up meeting us there.

I attempted to take some pictures of the boys together...

but that didn't work out as planned...

The boys and their cousin with Roy's mom

Me and my boys :)

All 4 of my boys...

I love this one!

I have to share this...I saw it on Katie's blog and it just spoke to me so deeply...

"If you know someone who has lost a child...and you're afraid to mention them because you think you might make them sad by reminding them that they died, they didn't forget they died. You're not reminding them. What you're reminding them of is that you remember that they lived, and that's a great, great gift."

~ Elizabeth Edwards

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day!

Celebrate!

Last Saturday we celebrated Ryan's birthday at Jump-N-Place! 

We had such a fun time...so did the kids!  Ha!

That place is GREAT too because they do ALL the work!  They set up the party room for me while all the kids were playing and jumping.  All I did was give the thumbs up! 

It was so laid back and easy!

The Birthday Boy!

Aidan had baseball pictures before the party!

Cole was all smiles :)

Cole's friend he found - he liked talking to this guy!

Going in...

Aidan and Cousin Bella (both had games after - it was also Opening Day for baseball!  We had a busy day!)

Ryan and Landon

Cousin Robert

Uncle Raymond and Cole

Fatty Maddy!  Love those thighs Maddox!

Roy was trapped with all the boys jumping on him!

Making our way to the party room...

This is the new way Ryan takes pictures...

A little shy while being sung too :)

You're busted, Cole!  It's not your birthday!!!

Thank you to all who came and celebrated with us!!!

Today...

Today was the day that my life was forever changed 5 years ago...

Today was the day that I least look forward to every year...

Today was the day that I last saw that sweet face...

Today was the day our precious boy was born and went to be with Jesus...



Today was the day...

5 years...I can't believe it's been 5 years.

I remember every detail of that day...

Sweet Alex,

You have forever changed me.  You have made me who I am today.  This is such a hard month for me, but knowing the grace of GOD gets me thru.  You are still so whole in my heart.  You live there everyday.  I can only imagine the big boy you would be today.  Being silly and sweaty and crazy!  We sent you balloons today for your birthday.  The sky was beautiful seeing them all float up to the Heavens :)  Ryan sent you two of his balloons from his party today.  He said he wanted to send them to Heaven :)  He loves you so much and tells everyone about you.  He just stares at your picture and loves on it.  He's so proud of you!  My heart aches for you, Sweet Boy.  Heaven will be sensational when we see you again...

Guess Who's 4?!?!

Today is Ryan's 4th Birthday!!!

We celebrated by waking him up singing "Happy Birthday" to him!  Then we all got ready and went to have breakfast at one of our favorite little places Papa Bear's.  It was yummy as always!  We let Aidan skip a few classes this morning so he could join us for breakfast.  I totally forgot my camera when we left the house, so no pictures of breakfast. :(

After we took Aidan to school, we went to the park and played and then went to Target so Ryan could pick out a Transformer cartoon movie.  His fave, of course!  And you can't leave Target without their popcorn!

We came home afterwards to let Cole take a nap and Ryan got some Transformer movie action. 

Ryan had an appointment to get his haircut, so that was next on the agenda.  He has to look spiffy for his party on Saturday, ya know!

Our family met us at Chili's for dinner and we all had a great time!

My handsome birthday boy!

Little brother, Cole :)

Big brother, Aidan :)

Cole thinks Mimi hung the moon!

There's that SMILE!

We had cupcakes for dessert!

The servers came and sang to Ryan and he was so embarrased!  It was so funny!!!

Daddy and Ryan had fun "icing" each other's noses!

Pretty sure Cole liked his cupcake ;)

Goofy boy!

Our family of 5! 

I think this might be the first picture of all 5 of us together?

WOW.  That's sad...I need to do better :(



We had such a fun day and Ryan really enjoyed it!  This was the first year that he really understood and it made it so much more fun!  His party is Saturday, so I can't wait to celebrate again!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN ALEX!

Bittersweet

This month is really weighing heavy on my heart. We are quickly approaching Ryan's 4th birthday and the 5 year anniversary of Alex's birth and death. 

I am so excited planning Ryan's party, but sad thinking of how silly Alex would be and how big he would be getting.  He would be able to play t-ball this year and he would be getting ready to start Kindergarten in the fall. 

This is such a bittersweet month for me.  The emotions and the grief start to flood my heart, and then I try to think about how lucky we are to have had Ryan.  Without the loss of Alex, there would be no Ryan.  GOD had the perfect plan.  We get to spend eternity with both of them :)

Roy and I were in Killeen the other day, and on our way home we stopped in Temple at Scott & White Hospital to visit the Healing Garden and see the brick dedicated to our sweet boy.  It was so peaceful and calming there, and so pretty.  It felt good to know that all who visit there get to see our baby's name :)

Here are just some random silly pictures I found on my phone!  Crazy boys!

Aidan and Ryan with their 3-D glasses - minus the lenses!

My handsome almost 4 year old!

And this sweet baby boy!