easter.

Easter buckets... 

Church... {LOVE the songs on Easter!}

Lunch at Grandma Jones'... 

Easter egg hunt... 

Dodge ball...

Jones family picture...

Grandchild picture... {someone may not have been too interested in pictures}

{someone also may have been off to the side, lifting up their dress... =)}

easter eggs.

painting.

37.

* Daisy balloons.

* Colorful polka dot mugs.

* Seriously... could there be more perfect gifts for me?! =)

* Real daisies.

* Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (delivered along with 3 cats. We have cats now! And kittens!)

* Lawson erased the "Lawson is 9" from our happy chalkboard banner, and changed it to "Mommy is 37!!" =)

* Sweet birthday cards.

{According to Gretchen, the people were Daddy, Sophie, and Sophie's friend. Naturally.} =)

{The cards were after they let me sleep in this morning. I didn't get out of bed until 9:30!! So, so nice!}

* Out to eat with my parents.

* Beautiful weather outside.

* So many sweet Facebook messages and texts.

* Finally hearing the voice of a friend I miss so much.

* Ending the night laughing with Vince Vaughn (Corey, too. He's beside me on the couch. Vince Vaughn is on tv.) =)

danielle. {update}

Thank you to all who said prayers for my friend, Danielle. 
Please keep them coming. 
The surgery itself went well, but the news was not what we hoped for... 

April 1... from her website: 
They took her back at 10am, and by 12:30 Matt got some news - not the news we wanted - that cancer has been found in a couple of lymph nodes. A total of 6 nodes were taken and will be tested. Radiation is now a must, and chemo will begin in 4-6 weeks. There will also be some type of scan to determine whether cancer has spread to other areas.

One hopeful detail: IF this is "HER2" type cancer, there has been a lot of success with a chemo for that type.

By sometime around 4pm, she was in recovery. She had opened her eyes when Matt was with her, then was right back asleep. I believe the plan was to try to keep her sedated most of the first day/night.

She doesn't know yet what we do. Pray for strength and courage when she faces this news.

April 2... from Facebook:  

We want to thank everyone for the prayers and positive comments. Danielle is still in the hospital for tonight, she is in a lot of pain still and has felt nauseated this afternoon so I am glad we are here for one more night. She had a cat scan done this morning to see if it had spread into other organs and parts of the body. Around 6 the dr called and said the cat scan "looks great". She did say that they did see a small spot close to the liver that they would monitor but they think it is benign and the dr was pleased with the report. Our plan now is to rest up and get ready for chemo in 4-6 weeks! We want to thank you again for all the prayers and support - please keep them coming if possible!

Matt

I told a friend the other day that I start thinking how stressed I am or how overwhelmed... and then I think of Danielle. And I realize that I have absolutely nothing to complain about. 

It's amazing how quickly your perspective can change. 

Please, please, continue to pray. 

bowling party.

This was our year for "friend parties" for birthdays. 

Sophie had a pretty low-key pajama party back in October. 

Lawson had ideas for a hunting party... but this momma wasn't quite up for that. 3rd grade boys... and guns? 

No, thanks. 

Bowling sounded much more "won't make mom crazy." (Especially when you figure in the bonus that these 3rd grade boys won't be in my house for the party!) =) 

This just made me laugh. (Maybe roll my eyes and shake my head a little, too, but I did eventually laugh...) 

When I told Lawson to write names on the cards, I actually meant on the other side. Where there were no words. Where there was a whole blank side, just waiting for something like To: Patrick. But yeah... squeezing it in between the other words works, too. 

We went ahead and invited all the boys in his class. His original list had 7 friends from school, and since there are 10 boys in his class, I figured we might as well go ahead and invite them all. (And I may have been secretly hoping that they wouldn't all show up. Aren't I an awesome party-throwing mom?!)

They didn't always have the best form...

But there were some exciting moments. =)

This guy made me smile. It was his first time to ever go bowling, and he had so much fun! (He also told me that it was his first birthday party. Ever. Except for people in his family. I was so happy he had so much fun.)

Blurry picture, but it's just so sweet...

He had fun. His friends had fun. It wasn't crazy expensive or elaborate. Perfect for a 9 year old party.

The only thing that would have made it more perfect is if this guy could have been there...

Birthdays are always more fun with your best friend.