Happy 9th birthday!

Today our miracles turned 9.  I'm not sure where the 9 years have gone.  I'd be lying if I didn't say that this feels big....9 feels like 'big kids' even pre-teen.  But today we celebrated our miracles.  9 years ago they began their lives oh so tiny.  Looking back could we have ever dared to dream how they would grow?  How they would laugh?  How they would love?  I always tell people that I knew those tiny little angels would be fine, but I also could never have imagined how amazing they would be.  Nor could I have ever dreamed how much I would love them.  Tonight as I sit in a quiet house, I cannot do much except say 'Thank you'.  From the depth of my soul I am thankful.

 We started our day of celebration with breakfast at Deboer.  All of the grandparents met us before school!  Is there a better way to start the day than a candle in a donut!?
Tom and I went to school to share a birthday lunch with the kids in the cafeteria!  So fun to join them with their friends!  After lunch we peeked in on their class, can you spot the 3 birthday hats!?  (they were so excited that their teacher had purchased 2 more!)

Tonight after art class we shared our third meal of the day together.  Even though poor Tom left the beautiful steaks he purchased for dinner at Meijer....in Grand Haven...our cheese soup and chocolate cake (from scratch) was amazing! 

What a beautiful day filled with love and laughter.  We are blessed. 

Birthday Sunday!

We are in the midst of a birthday marathon!  Today we visited DeVos Children's Hospital to drop off the birthday gifts the kids received to be donated from their party.  Today we even got to go up to the new NICU.  It was not the same place the kids were born, but still a potent reminder of where our miracles began. 

After the hospital visit, we started our second annual 'shopping day'.  We took the kids to 4-5 'mystery' locations to pick out a gift.  Today we visited 1. an antique store (max $5 to find a treasure)  2.  Schulers Books  3.  late lunch at 'On the Border'  4.  Clothes shopping  5.  Toys R Us

We are now at home enjoying a little 'super bowl party' (aka lots of junky snacks!) 

Such a blessed time, why not celebrate for 4 days straight! 

Post Birthday Party Party

After the party the grandparents came over for snacks, another cupcake and some presents!  And lots of hugs!

9th birthday party!

For the 3rd year in a row we celebrated the kids birthday at Hope College with their class.  This year we did "Super Science" the kids and their classmates (and the grandparents!) enjoyed 2 hours of chemistry experiments including 'Flubber' and Liquid Nitrogen!!  It was amazing!