I'm still here

We have had a crazy month, my friends. A really hard month and yet one that has allowed us to see nearly every family member on both sides even though none of us live in the same city.

At the very beginning of March we received word that Rob's father was in failing health and did not have much longer to live. Although this was expected, it was hard nonetheless. Rob flew to West Virginia to be with his siblings and to say good-bye to his Father. James Lang Webster passed away on March 11th.

Rob flew home for a few days and then we all drove to West Virginia for the funeral. I'll blog more about that later, but it was a wonderful weekend honoring an amazing man.

We drove home and then three days later we left with my family for a Spring Break trip that had been planned for months.

However, in those short three days we were home, a car hit Rob from behind and totalled our car. Nice.

But we had a wonderful time at the beach. It was a nice week to relax after such an emotionally draining month. Rob and I had some much needed alone time together as well to pray, think, and talk about his father. Oh, and search for a new car. Geez.

We got back yesterday and I am ready to put March in the rear view mirror and am very much looking forward to this Spring.

Oh, and Bennett lost her first tooth. And learned to ride a bike. And Will started doing math. And reading more. And Lainey is saying new words every day. I can't keep up.

Bennett's 6th "not quite spend the night" party

We had Bennett's birthday party last weekend.  Our house was filled with little girls in pajamas running up and down the stairs, singing karaoke and body checking each other with large pillows. It was glorious. And it was exactly what Bennett wanted. She wanted to have a pretend sleepover since I don't think Kindergartners are quite old enough to start spending the night out. So, her friends came in their pajamas and brought sleeping bags. Their parents dropped them off at 5:30 and picked them up at 8:30. It was crazy, chaotic, loud and fun. Bennett thought it was perfect. And that's all that mattered.

My parents came down for the party and brought two of my nieces from Birmingham with them. We decorated all day while Bennett was in school. It was so weird not having her here for most of the day. We normally have parties on Saturdays and so she is running around excitedly all day. It was kind of sad not having her here. But when she got home, she was so excited to open her presents from her grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins.

I didn't do a lot of my normal cutesy stuff for this party. The only kind of fun thing I did food wise was make these edible nail polish treats using marshmallows and tootsie rolls.

The main thing I did to keep the girls occupied was I let them decorate their own pillowcases. I printed out all of their names in advance and had it in between the pillowcases so the girls could trace their names easily. I also made sure there was cardboard in there as well to make it easier to draw and color.

 My nieces practiced their earlier in the day to make sure that it would look okay. We used fabric markers from Hobby Lobby and they worked beautifully.

This was the note Rob and I wrote to put in each of the goodie bags.

So each girl got to take home their pillow case, a bottle of nail polish and some cereal for breakfast the next morning.

Bennett and Will with their cousins as they were waiting for the guests to arrive.

Rob and I have been parents for 6 years!! How is this possible?

My tender hearted middle one. Man, I love this little guy.

We kicked the boys out of the house. Rob, my Dad and Will were banished to Chuck-E-Cheese for the evening a nd they took Lainey with them. She was an honorary boy that night. Here is my niece Emmie saying good-bye to Lainey before she left. Aren't they both beautiful?

 And they're here! My Mom took one group to the kitchen to start working on their pillow cases and my nieces took another group to our bonus room to start doing their nails and hair.

 The girls then had pizza in their sleeping bags and it was fun just to listen to them tell jokes and be goofy 6 year olds. Their school is pretty strict so I loved hearing them in a completely unfiltered environment.

Then it was time for cake and presents. Highlight of every party for sure.

Look how happy she is. Precious.

And then we had a pillow fight of epic proportions. I just prayed the whole time that nobody would injure themselves. Thankfully, they didn't. I might have gotten a bruise or two, but I just had to take one for them team.

Then it was karaoke time. They sang songs from "Frozen" of course. If this isn't played in your car and in your home non stop, then you clearly don't have a young girl in your house.

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I then made popcorn and put them in these little boxes.

And the girls "settled down" for the evening and watched a movie. Okay, some did. And the others just ran around my house for an hour. 

But the best part of the whole entire evening was seeing this face all night. 

She was in heaven and I love doing special things for her. She is so grateful and appreciative and I know from experiences in my own life how short and precious life can be. I cherish every moment I have with my kids and I don't take one moment for granted. I am very grateful that I have been given 6 wonderful years with this girl and I pray that God grants us many more together. Happy 6th Birthday, baby girl. You are my heart.