Cruz's Fifth Birthday

We had a fabulous day on Saturday celebrating our favorite five year old.

The morning started out with frosted chocolate donuts handpicked by Cruz himself. 

We had a busy day but Cruz was able to choose one gift to open before we left.

He was so excited to have his very own wallet, just like Rowan's. He tucked some birthday money in there for safe keeping. 

Rowan had a big chess tournament during the day and our sweet birthday boy was content to run around, play and cheer on his big brother. 

I know this post is about Cruz but Rowan placed 29th/118 and qualified for the state tournament in a few weeks. So proud of him. 

We had to make a quick stop at the Honda dealership before heading home. While Roger took care of business there, I took the kids to Peter Piper Pizza across the street. We got a bunch of tokens and the kids were able to play games.

When we got home, Cruzy got to open the rest of his gifts. He got the next set of Bob Books and a Playmobile airplane. 

I have a few more birthday pictures to share soon! Cruz gets to bring his treat to school tomorrow to celebrate with class. The birthday fun is never ending. ;)

Easter 2015

Easter this year was super special. At our church the kids generally go to their Sunday school class while we are in church. On Good Friday and Easter Sunday, however, there is only class for ages 5 and under meaning that Rowan joined us in "big church." My favorite part of this entire Easter weekend was the maturity I saw in him as he participated in worship. He sang the songs and exercised the self control needed to sit, stand and pray at the appropriate times. He was very intently listening to our pastor as well because he would periodically whisper a question to me. I was brought to tears several times watching him sing his little heart out. This kind of self control hasn't been easy for him in the past so yeah, it was just extra special to me.

We started out the morning making our annual resurrection roll and cross bacon breakfast. The kids love making the resurrection rolls and make them on their own. Roger was in charge of the bacon again.

All dressed up and ready for worship!













When we got home from church we did our Easter Egg Hunt. The boys went first while Cora napped.




The boys had a dollar bill, some change and jelly beans in their eggs. Their favorite egg is always the empty one though. They shake all the eggs trying to determine which one might represent the empty tomb. This year the dollar bill threw them off a bit. ;)

The boys hid Cora's eggs under Daddy's supervision and Cora and I waited together in her room. She kept squinting her eyes shut saying she wasn't peeking.





Everyone was excited to open their Easter Baskets.






The boys were really excited about their new movies. We had a family movie night tonight and watched Big Hero 6. It was a great way to finish off a wonderful day.


We decided to change up our food this year and instead of grilling, we went with a pot roast. It was delicious. We even had brownies for dessert. We sang to our birthday boy one last time.

We sang "Man of Sorrows" by Hillsong this morning in church. What a powerful song. This verse of the song has been running through my head all day. Happy Easter!

Now my debt is paid
It is paid in full
By the precious blood
That my Jesus spilled

Now the curse of sin
Has no hold on me
Whom the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed! 

Happy 5th Birthday, Cruz!

Sweet Cruzy,

We put you to bed as a pre-schooler and you woke up as a big five year old. We love watching you grow into who God made you to be. You are the joy and the glue in our family sweet Cruz. You keep us laughing and loving no matter the circumstances. 

At 5 years old you are so curious! You ask so many questions... really good questions. You amaze us and keep us on our toes. One of your favorite things to talk about right now is Heaven. You come up with some pretty insightful thoughts. I see Jesus in you so many ways, Cruz, but especially the way you worship in song and the way you genuinely care for others. 

You weigh about 32 pounds and are 40.5 inches tall. We take every half an inch seriously around here and we are so thankful that you grew over 2.5 inches this year. You have 20/20 vision and perfectly aligned eyes. We am so proud of you for being so brave this year with all your eye doctor appointments and surgery. You are a great baseball player and one of the best hitters on your team. You also love to flip that little body around on the couch and on the playground. Doing your first set of monkey bars was a big accomplishment this year. 

We are so proud of the way you're using that little brain God gave you, Cruzy. You can count so high and you're reading, buddy!!! We can't believe you're a reader already! Decoding words came so naturally to you. You are also a great cutter- maybe even a little better than your big brother. Your teacher just loves having you in her class. Your best friends are Tanner and Jude and together you do get into a bit of trouble. Ms. Smith said you're Kindergarten ready except for some excessive talking at circle time. ;)

We are so proud of you Cruz Emerson and just love you to pieces. We pray that God would guard and keep you this year, that you would grow in knowledge and in your love for Him and that you would always been looking for ways to serve those around you. 

Happy 5th Birthday!

Rowan Loses a Tooth

Yesterday was a very big deal for our biggest boy. He lost his first tooth! Rowan has been waiting and waiting this day with so much anticipation after finding a mildly loose tooth in his mouth around Christmas time. He was one of the last three kiddos in his first grade class who still hadn't lost a tooth so he was very ready.

Rowan was very persistent and determined in getting this tooth out. It was semi wiggly in the morning and in his hand by dinner time. Even though the truth of the tooth fairy is known to sweet Rowan, he was still very excited to put his tooth under his pillow.

And even though he knew who put it there, Rowan ran into our room at 6am so excited to show off his new $5 bill. I've been doing a little research and chatting with friends whose children have lost teeth and apparently the going rate for teeth has increased quite a bit from when I lost mine. Most families I talked to went with $5 for the first tooth and $1 each for the rest.

Of course, we had to go back through Rowan's baby pictures to see which of his front teeth came in first. Rowan was excited to see that the tooth he lost was his first one to come in. I'm so excited for him to have passed this big kid milestone and his grin minus a tooth is adorable! It's hard to see my baby growing up though. 

Birthday Gifts for Cruzy!

Cruz's birthday gifts have started rolling in which is always very exciting for the birthday kiddo. On Wednesday Cruz got to Skype with Grandma and open up some fun gifts from her. Yesterday, he had two special packages to open- one from GeeGee and one from Great Aunt Jill and Uncle Jim. 

Thank you Gee Gee for the sweet card and fun Target gift card. Cruzy is so excited to go and spend it. We'll let you know what he chooses! :)

Thank you Aunty Jill and Uncle Jim for the DQ gift card and the Kinetic sand kit. All three kids enjoyed playing with it for a long time after Cruz opened it! Cruz is looking forward to taking his siblings out for ice cream too. ;)

Cruz Eye Update:

Cruz had an appointment with his pediatric opthamologist on Wednesday and she gave us great news! Cruz's vision continues to be 20/20 in both eyes and she couldn't get his eyes to turn in or out at all. The doctor said that we could discontinue patching much to Cruz's (and my) excitement. He has a follow up appointment in 4 months and if all still looks good, he'll go back in 6 months and then after that can begin yearly check ups. We are so thankful for the healing of his eyes. My prayer had been that his eyes would be fixed by the time he learned to read. I can't imagine the tracking issues he would have had learning to read with his eyes misaligned, as well as issues seeing double etc. Cruz's eyes look perfect and he's is reading with no visual issues. What an answer to prayer. 

Happy Good Friday everyone!