Birthday Boy And Blogging Break

I'm going to be taking a break from blogging for most of the month of February. The end of next month actually will be a year since I have started blogging so I hope to get back to it before that date, but before I do that I have lots to do around this house, some obligations to meet, and some promises to keep.
I might post for my Mom's Anniversary but as that day approaches I am feeling more and more sad, and less and less like posting about it.
I'll try visiting (and commenting) as often as I can, and I'll post if anything out of the ordinary or anything interesting goes on in my usually boring life.

Well, I think it's appropriate that my last few posts before I break from 'Umma's World' have been about the little lad that dubbed me 'Umma'!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAYDEN!

On his Birth Day!




~1st Birthday Party~

Jayden's 1st Birthday party had to be put off numerous times because everyone in the house was sick that winter. And we had so many other things going on in our lives at that time too. We did have a little cake for him on his birthday though.

We finally had a party for him a few weeks later on February 11.

My sister Diane and I left the party to go be with my Mom who was on hospice care at the time, we stayed the night with her, and we were Blessed to still be with her when she went Home to Heaven the next day.


~2nd Birthday Party~





~3rd Birthday Party~






~4th Birthday Party~

Jayden's eyes really lit up...


...when he saw Uncle Brian's gift!





~5th Birthday Party~

Today, January 31, is Jayden's Birthday, but there has been a lot of celebrating already, his class celebrated his birthday in school, and he came home with a Birthday Crown that the teacher gave to him. And we celebrated his birthday with a family party yesterday, and today we'll be going to a school Mass, and then go across to his school for Open House, we'll get to see his classroom and some of the work that the children have been doing will be on display too, and then we'll take a tour of the school and visit the Kindergarten class that he will be in next year. After that we'll go out to lunch and come back home and have another little birthday celebration for him.

It's amazing to me to think about how much my life revolves around this little guy when even the thought of him did not exist just a few years ago.

Precious Moments

Sometimes in our lives God Blesses us beyond our wildest dreams. I have been so Blessed with my grandchildren Mia and Jayden.

On Sunday Jayden will turn five, and the joy that has filled my life these past five years is way beyond description. I don't know of any words in the English language that would do justice to the elation, delight, and love this child has brought into our home and into my life.
I'm ashamed to say that I did not greet the news of Jayden's impending birth with great joy. And it was with reluctance that I readied the house for a new baby. It had been twenty years since I had fed, and diapered, and cared for a newborn, and I did not relish the thought of bottles, and bassinet, and playpen, and crib, and stroller, and high chair (and all the rest of the paraphernalia that comes with caring for a baby) taking over my home again. It felt like an invasion.

Had I only known the immense love that was about to enter my life I would have gleefully tended to that task with a grateful heart and happy anticipation rather than a mere sense of obligation.


Here are just a few of the precious moments spent with this precious boy:

I am so Blessed.
God Is So Good.

Happy Birthday, K-K-K-Katie!

I was going to write a story or a poem that went along the lines of this:
the times Katie's tried, and of the times she's filled us with so much pride, and I was going to write about how she has Blessed us with one of our greatest gifts, and how to our family this has added so much bliss.

I was going to write about how Katie drives me insane to a point where at times I don't know my own name, or how my oldest daughter and I hardly ever see eye-to-eye, or how I have to remind myself that our children are not actors in some play and how they won't be directed by anything we do or say, and how we have to let them go their way, it's pointless to hold on to yesterday.

(No matter how old they get ~ isn't this the way we remember them?)

But then I thought long and hard about this daughter of mine and I could think of no better gift to give than this...

(This is a song her FarFar used to sing to her.)











...and this:

Remember when our boy was obsessed with vacuuming?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATIE!
Love,
Mommy


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOMMY!
Love,
Jayden

And I want to wish a Happy Birthday to Debbie, the teacher I used to work with, she became a very treasured friend during those years. We spent many joyful moments together in that Kindergarten class, and we also weathered some very heartbreaking moments together.
'Love you, Deb!