Seizing My Day

equals 2920 days of LIFE!  =)

My sweet little boy had his 8th birthday this month!

Celebrating Sammy’s Life is precious to me…

but before I get all mushy…

Let me show you all the fun we had celebrating Sammy!

I love involving them in the planning…

we always have loads of fun creating games, mystery and crafts!

Ah… memories!

Sammy’s theme this year was Nerf games

They were not all Nerf brand…

but most were… and the others were nerf like!  =)

We Love NERF!

To add a little mystery each game had a little blue envelope

with homemade scrabble letters to unscramble

to reveal what game we were going to play

The boys really enjoyed this part

except I told Sammy not to help b/c he knew the games…

oops… that made this part boring for the birthday boy!!  ha ha!

the first game involved danger in my kitchen

the boys had fun and nothing in my kitchen broke!  whew!

(please don’t notice I STILL have not finished my painting from April!)

The boys had trouble unscrambling this one

because they left one letter in the envelope

and the um… r … is upside down boys!!

So just add an F

can you guess the next game?

This picture looks like the Frisbee is flying at him…

The goal was to get the Frisbee into the targets 3 times to earn the prize

the targets were hula hoops and giant Frisbees on the ground

it was harder than it seemed

but they enjoyed the challenge!

of course they were proud of themselves

some concentrated really hard to reach their goals…

while others …

couldn’t help but add a little silly to the games!

oops… the ball needs to go through the hoop

not over the hoop!  =)

3 times to earn the prize

but if you hit the holder of the hoops

you have to kiss her!!

YES … I really did tell them that was a rule!

Ah ha ha ha!  the mom has to have fun too!

AND … they never hit the girl with the ball… =)

and the girl was horrified I said it out loud…

even though we had joked about it earlier that day!

ah memories!

At this point we stopped to eat dinner, open presents

we let each boy sit with the Birthday Boy while he opened their presents

and then I print these pictures and we use them for the Thank you cards!!

YES daddy you can have a turn too!

*cough*cough*

guess I better get to those Thank you’s soon!!

and then it was time to EAT the Rainbow cake!

I mean blow out the candles … =)

then eat the cake!

which btw.. was too fruity tasting for me…

fun but fruity

however ALL the kids LOVED it!  yay!!

then we went back outside to earn a chance to hit the pinata!!

Daddy was a very good sport about this game!

each boy had to use the water swords to fight the big guy!

and if they managed to swack him on the rump and leave a wet mark

they earned the right to swing at the pinata!  =)

This was SO much fun to watch!!

We even had Abby earn this one…

just because it was SO MUCH FUN!

I would show you all the pictures of each boy…

but I fear you’ll never come back!!  ha ha!

Needless to say …

they all managed to get the big guys rump wet!

maybe he let them…

maybe he didn’t?!

anywho…

PINATA time!!

this is my little man taking the first of a THOUSAND swings!

why do pinatas NOT break very easy!

even with this form…

LOOK at his perfect form!!

he is going to be in the major leagues one day

and I am going to have this picture when he is famous!

again… the kids faces cracked me up

and I took a hundred pictures!

look at his face!!

So funny!

and hers!!

Priceless!

and then there was the holder of the pinata 200 hits later!

don’t let that skinny guy fool ya…

he’s got muscles!!  =)

Way to endure Honey!!

SuperStar Daddy!!

The last game didnt’ start until the parents arrived … oops!

Which was the one Sammy was most excited about…

which the mommy failed to take pictures of…

DART TAG!

They had a quick unorganized game of dart tag and loved it!

What a great day it turned out to be!!

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Warning ~ here is where the MUSHY part starts ~

I have sort of shared that Sammy is a very special boy…

Every year when we celebrate his birthday I am Extremely grateful we were blessed with another year of life with my little boy.   Grateful that his medical issues have not gotten any worse “yet”.   Sometimes I am grateful to have made it through the year with medical scares.   Other years I am grateful to make it through the year without any medical scares.   I am always Grateful for a year filled with Fun Family Memories despite our circumstances.  I am Grateful for another year to Thank the Lord that Sammy remained healthy and thrived!  I live allowing worry to consume my heart.

It is time… Time for me to share with you all His Story… our story!  I am usually an open book… but I didn’t want Our medical history to define me… even though it really does define me …  =)

Our story is one of the many reasons I choose to Seize My Day …one BLESSED day at a time!  Attempting to Thank the Lord daily, Surrender my life (our lives) daily to God’s beautiful plan ~ even during difficult circumstances… God can and does do amazing things in and through us… even in the midst of those times.  So I try to  Seize every beautiful moment we are blessed with!  Because I am an emotional soul it is not always easy… I hold  fear in my heart & mind … even though I smile on the outside all the time … and take life one beautiful or one gray day at a time… trying to enjoy more than I complain =)    it is a daily battle … to surrender a fearful mommy heart to God and TRUST in Him… in His perfect plan!

So today I am committing to tackling my fears, sharing my story boldly, and allowing God to move FREELY in my heart … Living with JOY and PEACE… with God despite my circumstances!   So Why the need to share ~ because Sammy’s story (our story) is a huge part of who I am ~ and if I keep “hiding” it ~ then I am not really surrendering it!  I am not really FREE when I have things like fear hidden in my heart!  =)   The 4th of July is all about Freedom ~ I realize that Freedom is different than the freedom I am talking about ~ but work with me here in my crazy over analytical mind, k?!!  So tomorrow or the next day ~ instead of doing my GIVEAWAY *cough*  (and since it requires me to use my sewing machine and I have NOT managed to succeed and I am procrastinating ~ forgive me for being a tease?)  ~ so instead of doing my just because the Sun is Shining Giveaway on July 1st ~ I am going to spill my story first and then ~ then I will Celebrate feeling more FREE with my giveaway on July 4th!!   I know y’all probably have plans for the long weekend ~ not to worry I will run the giveaway for a week!  =)

Warning ~ my story is emotional ~ life has been hard ~ but full of  fun, love, joy, hope and some peace too ~ however ~ fear and worry are WEEDS ~ and can take over that garden of love, joy, hope and peace with out you even knowing it!   Just warning you… bring tissue tomorrow ~ ok!

I am off to feed kids, walk the dog and then I hope to catch up a bit more with y’all… I am afraid Summer  (though not very sunny yet)  has in fact provided the opposite blogging experience that I expected… LAZYness … not more time!!  ha ha!  I love lazy mornings and summer fun … which has of course affected my blogging some!!  ha ha!  I am assuming y’all are in the same boat ~ and we will wave at each other as we happen to pass each other on our way to the ice cream truck!  =)