May 18th.....

May 18th was a day full of mixed emotions for our family. Let's start out with the fun stuff... :)

May 18th was Paul's actual birthday. Kitana did her own shopping for him this year and this is what she picked out. She was very proud of herself and Paul has actually found the things she picked out to be very useful. She picked out a present for Zara too. She picked a pack of bracelets for her which Zara enjoyed eating and playing with :)

Paul is a kid and still loves his ninja turtles. He has a set of the action figures from when he was a kid, but was always missing the Michelangelo (orange) one. Well, I tried to find it on ebay. I did find it, but wasn't willing to spend $30 for an old used worn out one. So I figured this one would do. After all, I knew he would just end up giving it to Kitana!

I was also able to surprise him with a new nixon watch! They are his favorite and he hasn't had a new one in at least 5 years or more! I finally figured out that he likes to have a nice big expensive present. And then he also likes some sort of toy that he can open and play with immediately. He also requested donuts for his b'day breakfast, which I went out early with Z to get for him.

We had a joint party for Paul and Zara since her birthday is exactly a week after his. We were planning on doing her party on her actual b'day, but had to change it due to my cousin's missionary farewell being that same weekend. Thank goodness it all happened the way it did....

Waiting patiently for her guests to arrive.

Thanks Kiera for the streamer/decorations ideas!

Love my goofy girls.

Here is proof about the ninja turtle being handed off to Kitana. Paul can't say no to that girl!

Home-made sign came out pretty cute! It was crazy windy this day, don't know how I managed to get a picture with all the letters showing.

Sweet potato face! We did a sweet potato bar for Zara since they were her favorite food! (She has since gotten sick of them, I think b/c I made her eat too many leftovers from the party!) Paul also requested ribs. He smoked them for 4 hours and they were delicious! We also had a yummy salad from my mom, deviled eggs from Brooke, and drinks from Joni. I have the best family ;)

The "boy" table. I didn't get one of the girls b/c I was obviously too busy visiting w/ all of them!

Zara's special, healthy birthday cake. No sugar!

She thought it was delicious! Cream cheese frosting and all. She really couldn't get enough of it. It was mostly sweetened by bananas and tasted like a healthier version of banana bread. It was still pretty yummy for being so baby friendly.

My mom's chocolate cake recipe that Paul requested. He wanted me to make it so that way I could learn. It turned out great too!

I was trying to think of something fun for Zara to do at her party. She loves to just sit and play. So I came up w/ the idea to make my own sort of ball pit thing. I bought a small wading pool and filled it with different types of balls and a couple rubber duckies. She absolutely loved it and was definitely entertained, just like I had planned :)

She got spoiled with all her presents and really loved opening them. She couldn't stop looking at the different toys and kept trying to touch them all. This dog toy was from us. There is this book about this spotted doggie that she just loves. She kisses him on every page and I was so excited when I found this dog for her that looked just like him, and she obviously thought so too.

Now, a little about the emotional stuff. I will post a brief summary....My brother's wife was pregnant and hadn't felt the baby move all day on the 18th. They rushed down to the doctor's right before the party to get things checked out and thought they would be right back. She was rushed into an emergency c-section as the baby's heart beat was barely there. It's really hard for me to realize that we were all at this party while they were experiencing the worst day of their lives. It all happened so fast and we really had no idea what was going on until the party was wrapping up. The baby was rushed to NICU at Loma Linda. She went through all sorts of things and I can't even begin to imagine how my brother and sister in law felt during all of this. To make a long story short, baby Leighton is now home safe with her parents after a long/scary stay in the NICU. I know that she is still with us today due the the faithfulness and prayers of her parents and those around her. The doctors and nurses really can't explain how she pulled through it all. They have never seen a baby recover this well considering her circumstances. She is a little miracle baby :)