These Three Miracles

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Happy Birthday, Aunt Dessa!

Today is our sister-in-law, Vadessa's birthday!!!!!

Happy, happy day!

Vadessa and Steven (Tim's middle brother) were married before Tim and I met. When I met Tim's family for the first time, Vadessa and I hit it off right away. We went out to dinner that weekend just the four of us, and I knew we would be fast friends. She is a wonderful listener and friend and has been a great source of advice when we are in the throws of a parenting "challenge." I really don't know what I'd do without her. Vadessa is determined and strong, and we love her dearly!

We love you, Aunt Dessa! Hope you have a wonderful day on your day off and are able to relax and treat yourself! Here are some of our favorite pics with you!

Madeline's favorite - getting pedicures and manicures from Aunt Dessa!

Three beautiful girls!

A "girls lunch!"

Susanna's first birthday!

Eli's fourth birthday ...

So cute! This was taken this past November!

Love Birds!

Lauren Ashley and Parker's birthday ...

Getting some good cuddles from Sus!

Hanging out on Christmas Day...

What a beautiful family!

Happy Birthday!

Monday, January 9, 2012

Susanna's First Day

Last Thursday was Susanna's first day at Special Kids and Families! We fell in love with this program when Madeline was 18 months old. We always say, "Le Bonheur saved her life, but Special Kids and Families improved the quality of her life." Truly, it did. She had never been to a Mother's Day Out program, had very few babysitters and was really sad to be away from me. Most programs wouldn't take her with a feeding tube and were full day - we really didn't want a program that long, and with a feeding tube, what would she do for lunch at a full day program? I knew Special Kids existed from when I used to teach Special Ed; some of my students had gone through it. We decided to try it. It made all the difference in transitioning Madeline to being away from me for a few hours, me feeling comfortable leaving her with an educated (about health concerns), nurturing and intentional staff, and just the overall feeling of normalcy.

We, of course, wanted Eli to go there, too. He loved it and did great! We are sad when the 3rd birthday rolls around, in a way, because that's when they "age out" of Special Kids and have to go to another preschool!

So, now here we are with our third child to go through the program!

Here she is all packed and ready!

She went right up to the door - so excited to go in!

Could not even stop to take her coat off before she started playing!

With our wonderful teacher, Ms. Linda (Madeline and Eli had her, too!). What an amazing feeling to leave her with no crying and just know that she is going to be happy, learn so much and be well cared for!

I said "goodbye" to her, and it was like no big deal - she did great! What a happy first day!

Here's a funny video I took a while ago. Since this is my Susanna post, I wanted to include it!

Happy Monday!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Happy Birthday, Mimi

Today is my mom's 65th birthday!!!!!

We wish we could be there to give you big hugs in person! The kids were so excited to sing to you and Susanna kept saying, "Mimi, Mimi," as we looked at pictures to post here.

Clearly, they love their Mimi!

Here are some of our favorite recent pictures with you!

We love you, Mimi!

We hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Two Birthday Guys

I have to apolgize to the two birthday boys that this post is a little belated! Tim's brother Mark's birthday was the 22nd and Dada's birthday was the 23rd!

We wanted to give Mark and Dada a little birthday tribute!

Hope you each had a wonderful birthday!

Mark has not been feeling well, and they are getting ready to move in a week. Needless to say, with two little ones at Christmas and all the other things they have been dealing with, it has been a stressful December! Hope you were able to relax a little between Christmas preparations and painting the new house! We love you, Uncle Mark!

Here are a few of our favorite pictures of you!

A visit with Mark and Kathy before they had kids...

Mark and their first sweet baby, Dacee!

On the VERY important day when Dacee became an "OFFICIAL" Flack!

(Though, she was officially ours to all of us on April 13, 2010 - her birthday!)

During a visit last February ... the weekend before Ryen was born!

Mark and his second sweet baby just a couple days after he was born!

In June for the Flack Beach Trip!

Having fun with Parker...

Introducing Dacee to the ocean!

Hope you had a wonderful birthday, Uncle Mark; we love you!!

Happy Birthday to you, too, Dada! We hope you had a super wonderful day watching football, relaxing and getting ready for the family to invade on Sunday afternoon!

We love you! Here are some fun pictures we love of Dada!

I have always loved this picture of the grandkids... it's a few years old and about three kids short, but I still love it!