Valentine's Day and Will's Birthday

We had a very interesting Valentine's day this year. It started out normal enough. The kids were excited when they came for breakfast and found Valentine's surprises from me and from both Grandmas as well.

Sarah enjoyed smashing her chocolates more than actually eating them.

Robby came home from work on Friday a little early and said he wasn't feeling well. He got progressively worse on Saturday and Sunday and he asked me to drive him to the instacare on Monday morning. So I got the older two off to school and we drove to the Instacare. It was packed since it was Monday morning so we waited for a long time. While we were waiting Robby's cell phone rang and it was the school saying that Savannah had passed out and to please come pick her up. So I left Robby at the Instacare and ran to the school and brought Savannah back to be seen too. We finally got in and found out that Robby has the flu (the doctor called it Para Influenza) and Savannah ended up with a diagnosis of Strep Throat (after they drew her blood for testing, gave her an EKG and a chest x-ray, in addition to the throat swab) She was pretty emotional about the whole thing. She was especially upset about having to miss her Valentine's party at school. She hadn't eaten anything that morning and the doctor thought that with the combination of not eating and being sick with strep made her pass out. Luckily her teacher caught her when she passed out so she wasn't hurt and her teacher said that the other kids were occupied and no one really noticed that she passed out. I was worried that it would be traumatic for the other kids and embarrasing for Savannah, but it doesn't seem to have been a problem on either count, thank goodness. So we finally left the doctor and went to the pharmacy for more waiting while we filled two prescriptions for Robby and one for Savannah. Over three hours and $175 later we were finally on our way home. Not exactly how I planned to spend my morning, but that's how it goes some days. Luckily Sarah and Isaac were really good the whole time. I have never seen Robby so sick (and he says he has never felt this bad either). He could hardly sleep due to the congestion and coughing and he was finally able to go back to work today-nearly a week after his symptoms started. I'm just grateful I didn't get it (yet).

Sarah had been sick with a runny nose for awhile, but I already had her twelve month appointment scheduled for Tuesday so I just changed that to a sick child visit and took her in to be seen. She ended up having an infection in both ears so we have her on antibiotics as well. Luckily she is doing much better today. I think we are through the worst for all three of them.

Wednesday was Will's 7th birthday and he was so excited for the day to finally come. We had a party for him on Saturday with Sarah, but we told him he could open his gifts from us on his birthday and then we are going to go swimming as a family on Saturday. I always let the kids decide if they want to have a friend party or do something as a family and Will picked to go swimming.

So yesterday morning Will was so excited to open his gifts.
He has wanted a slingshot for a long time now and we finally got him one. I hope I don't regret that decision. Robby has talked to him about how to be safe with it.

He got a Spiderman game set from Isaac.

We only had time for a couple of gifts in the morning so he opened the rest after school.
He got a new sleeping bag and he even slept in it on his bed last night. I think he likes it!

A toy microphone from Savannah

And some glow sticks from Sarah. My kids are loving those things! Will got some from a neighbor for Christmas and now my kids want them for every party.

It has been a crazy week of parties and sickness. We are so glad that Will is part of our family. He is always a lot of fun and can always make us laugh. I can't have a birthday post without looking back over the past years to see how much he has changed.

Will-2 months old

One year old

3 years old

Will's 4th birthday party

Will turning 5

Will turning 6



And Will on Saturday

We are so glad that we have Will in our family and we are so proud of the grown up boy he has become!

The Birthday Celebration

Sarah hours old above and one year old below

How did my baby get big so fast? This year has flown by so quickly I can't believe it!

Sarah tried her first bites of chocolate cake on her birthday and she loved it!

Sarah's birthday was on Friday and Will's birthday is coming up on Wednesday so we planned a joint party for them with our families on Saturday. My sister Heather was nice enough to come over on Friday to help me make cakes for the party. Sarah had been acting sick all day on Friday, but she suddenly seemed to feel a lot better so we gave her a little cake to try.


Heather was awesome to come spend all day with me making cakes for the party.

Will's cake. He wanted a layer cake with raspberries on the outside and a skull on top. Raspberries are little expensive in February so we talked him into white chocolate chips instead. I think it turned out great!

Sarah's cake. She really likes animals so we went with that for the theme. Heather did an awesome job making animals out of modeling chocolate to put on the cake. And the bow on top is my favorite part. Thanks so much for all your help Heather!


Oh, a little side note here. Will came home from school on Tuesday and announced that he had pulled out his other front tooth during class. I didn't even realize it was that loose, but he was really excited that it had come out that day! And luckily for Will, our slacker Tooth Fairy managed to come on the first night this time. Maybe she is getting better.

OK, back to the birthdays.


We tried to get Sarah to open a present on her birthday, but she didn't feel good and she didn't want to.


It's party day! Her shirt says "I'm the birthday girl"



She was a little more interested in presents on Saturday.

She saw me wrap the green one and knew it was a doll so she picked it up and started signing baby. It was pretty cute.



The kids helped me make a sign for the party



The birthday kids


We sang to Will because Sarah was a little overwhelmed by the singing. She started crying as soon as I put her in her highchair to have some cake. At least Will was into it.

She felt better when Papa was holding her though.

Finally he gets to eat that cake!

Opening presents

Sarah got a lot of new books that she is so excited about! Will loved all his new stuff too.

Sarah eventually had a piece of cake and loved it. She wouldn't try any ice cream though.

The party was a big success, even though Sarah wasn't quite at 100%. Thanks so much to everyone who came and helped us celebrate these milestones!