Happy Days & Happy Birthdays!!!

My sweet girls share June as their birthday month. It's a GREAT month!

This year, in lieu of gifts from me and The Engineer, the girls opted for an "experience." Or a memory, if you will.

They wanted their grandmothers to join them for lunch at the American Girl store.

Sister and I did this in Texas a few summers ago and the experience was one I will never forget. The entire day was absolutely precious and so, so special.

This go round, for Sister's EIGHT birthday and Little Bit's THIRD birthday, did not disappoint!

Little Bit kept blowing the candles out faster than we could sing Happy Birthday and the waitress kept reaching in to re-light them...notice her "ne-kid" Bitty Baby.

Eight years and three years...oh my...the days are long and the years are short.

I swallow hard when I think about our baby turning three. And our big girl turning eight.

I love how these girls love each other. It's not all smiles and happy happy all the time time, but for the most part, they are sweet friends and they love one another.

I could eat them up!

Meet Grandma (the girls' great-grandmother), JJ, moi, and Bobo...and the two birthday girls!

Somehow I didn't snap a pic of Sister picking out her birthday present...all the grands went in together and bought her Julie (here she's holding Kanani).

Little Bit chose a baby carrier for her Bitty Baby.

She was so excited! We saw a side of her we'd never seen. She got all embarrassed and tilted her head down and in and had the sweetest expression.

I LOVED this birthday because the girls each got ONE thing they love and enjoy...and they were so excited and so happy and they are still playing with their ONE gift! Yay!

Little Man and The Engineer hung out and met up with us after all the girly festivities.

This is what I found that night when I went to tuck Little Bit into bed. Makes me smile. She's at that magical age of three...and I love it.

We had more cake when The Engineer's grands (our children's great-grands) joined us for a few days. (And JJ came with them and spent the week with us! Woop woop! Nothing like having a grandmother for the week. Did I brush my children's teeth once? I think not.)

I worked really hard on that cake...made it from scratch...it was sooooo delish, but notice - it totally fell apart on one side. Oops.

Sister also got a few legos and both girls got some pet shops from Uncle E. Such a fun celebration!

On the morning of Little Bit's birthday I told her "Happy Birthday." She smiled at me and said, "Happy Birthday." I said, "no, it's YOUR birthday. Happy Birthday." She smiled and said, "you welcome." So sweet.

She expected candles on her birthday, too. We had a quarter of the cake left by then and we lit her up.

Happy Birthday to my two favorite girls!!! Little Bit - you're forever my "nut-nut" and Sister - oh sweet Sister, you blow me away. I love watching you grow up. I am amazed by your creativity and the way you step up to the plate. You are precious. Wonderful. You both are. I love being your mama. Y'all are the best and you have the best brother. I love you girls! Happy Birthdays!!!

And to my sweet friends here...thank y'all for your prayers and words of encouragement. Our little lamb's birthday came and went and the day wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd feared. I was teary early on...but spending the day with my sweet girls and celebrating their precious lives - it was sweet. Plain and simply, sweet. It was good to rejoice and to celebrate their lives...to breath in their smiles and the glow on their faces. And to count the wonderfully rich life we get to share with them. Knowing these birthdays where our children are in our home - where we get to wake them with "Happy Birthday" and celebrate them all day long - these years are numbered. And the day was good.

June 16 was big and hard. Saying goodbye to our dream, our hope, to our little lamb...it was kind of like the final hurdle. Don't get me wrong. My heart is still tender and that baby forever has a piece of my heart. But the turmoil of emotions I felt - it's just...better. I'm not battling the thought "I'm supposed to be pregnant right now." It's just...better.


And I painted a white-gray over the bright yellow that greeted us in the entryway and stairwell and upstairs hall...and I think we all breathed a sigh of relief.

The Lord is good to us and we rejoice in Him. He is near to the broken-hearted. Even when we push Him away. He saves those who are crushed in Spirit. I am thankful, so thankful, to be His.

Thank y'all for walking through this with us. I am thankful for each of you.

Happy Weekend, Y'all!!!