Double Birthday Party

We have two birthdays in February, Audrey's in on the 7th and Michael's the 28th, so we had a combined Princess and Knight party this past weekend.  I didn't manage to get a picture of the two of them at the party...but here is the photo we used for the invitation.  

Sir Michael & Princess Audrey

The party was a blast!  We had a bounce house, cardboard castle, balloon swords, shields, wands, crowns and even a castle cake.  I LOVE throwing my kiddos birthday parties.  It brings me so much joy watching their faces light up and I enjoy getting a chance to be creative every now and then =0)

One failure from the party...picture taking.  I totally should have taken a picture of all the boys in their awesome Knight vests my mom and I made holding their awesome shields my dad cut out of wood...but this is as good as it gets.

And I should have taken a picture of all the girls wearing their pretty princess dresses, holding their suer cute wands they made with their royal crowns they decorated...but this shot is about as good as it gets =0)

I am just grateful that my amazing sister-in-law took some great photos for me throughout the day...here are a few of my favorite.

The castle now resides in a garage.  The kids are not ready to part with it just yet =0)  

And I have 2 months to come up with some fun ideas before our little guy turns 1!!!

Birthday Fail

Yesterday our little Princess Audrey turned 3!!!!! 

The day started out great.  She woke up to a decorated house, a new doll and a princess dress...we were on a roll!

We had big plans for parks and cupcakes and all of her favorites along the way.  Unfortunately  we had to make a slight detour at the doctors around 11.  The 3 older kids had been sick since Saturday but were seeming much better.  I figured they were on the mend and a day of fun was before us...not so much.  The night before Michael woke up crying from ear pain and yesterday morning Stephen had a fever.  We sent Lizzie to school since, she was fine, but decided to take the other 3 to the doctor.   Boy did that visit go unexpectedly!  It turned out Michael has Pneumonia and an ear infection, Audrey was wheezing and had a double ear infection, and we were told we need to take Stephen to the ER for possible Pneumonia...not the birthday surprises I had planned.
To Audrey I am sure she had a great birthday.  She got to watch cartoons, eat ice cream, have her Papa take care of her, and go to McDonalds for a Happy Meal birthday dinner.  But to this mama it was a big birthday fail.  I missed the whole day =0(
The good news...Stephen is "fine".   It was a slightly frustrating experience, but it ended well.  Originally we were told if he tested negative for pneumonia,  RSV and flu they would send us home.  However all the results came back negative and they still wanted to admit him.  Joe and I started asking questions as they were making preparations for IVs and lab work...and boy am I glad we did.  It seemed the only reason we were being held was for his supposed low saturations.  Yes at times his blood oxygen levels dipped into the high 60's but those sats were few and far between and quickly climbed back up.  When they said cardiology wanted to keep him we asked to speak with a cardiologist.   Long story short the ER doctors weren't painting an accurate picture of Stephen's condition to the heart docs so they wanted us to stay.  Once they saw what was really going on and how stable his oxygen saturations really were... they said we could go home.   So after 8 hours in the ER we finally got home around midnight this morning!!

Stephen basically slept the entire time we were in the hospital but he perked up when we played with photo booth =0)

For all of our prayer warriors please pray that Stephen can get through this cold without any unnecessary hospital stays.  While I love them monitoring him, he sleeps so much better at home.

As for our missed birthday plans...hopefully we can make those cupcakes today =0)