Saturday Smiles and Sighs...

It is dreary, rainy and cold morning - and I've never been happier about that.  That's because if it were sunny it would mean we'd have to cancel Gavin's birthday celebration because of me.  I have been sick with a cold all week - which was a nuisance, but life goes on.  But this morning I woke up feeling terrible with a cough.  There's no way I could have lasted walking around an amusement park all day.  We started the tradition last year on our first birthday without Gavin - his sixth.  Gavin loved rides and lights and music - and amusement parks have all of that!  So we vowed that each year we would visit an amusement park to celebrate his birthday.  Last year was Hershey Park. 

I managed to walk the entire park very pregnant with Miss Hope!  We even spent the night in a local hotel and Brian got to sleep in Gavin's special needs travel tent which was very exciting.

 Not to mention - the hotel had an indoor pool, which thrilled Brian to no end.  

So today, I am grateful for rain - but so sad that we're not going. I have my fingers crossed that the next few weekends will be sunny so we can cash in our rain check.

Sigh.

(Double sigh that by the time I am publishing this, the sun is shining.  I'm consoling myself by assuming that all the rides would be really wet so it's best we go another day.  Ugh.)

But, as usual in our family - smiles are not hard to find.  We're declaring today "pajama day!"  Brian and his Dad are playing a game in the playroom while Hope and I played dress up!  Today we are celebrating her 44th Saturday with us.  Here are some of my attempts to photograph our beautiful (and often serious) escape artist...

Here, Hope - hold this!  (She'll definitely be still holding something, right?)

"Ha ha - she really thinks this will work, doesn't she?"

Okay, let's try this again, Hope!

Here's a book!  (Surely this will distract her enough to sit still!)

"Did you say books, Mommy?  And can you take these ridiculously slippery shoes off of me???"

Maybe next week she'll sit and smile.  A Mommy can dream, right?

Last night we all went to Brian's school for their "Harvest Fest" and had so much fun!  Brian got to play a lot of carnival-like games - knocking down pins...

...throwing a football through the holes...

...Tic Tac Toe with bean bags and many more fun games!

After each game, he won "funny money" to purchase prizes!

It was a fun night.  We are so happy with the school we chose for Brian.  It's so fun to see him making friends and becoming so independent!  He's come a long way from this photo I took on his very first day of pre-school...

...to now!

 We are so proud of him.

And, as if we needed more reasons to smile on a bummer of a day - Brian helped me put his sister down for a nap this afternoon by singing an original lullaby to her.  Take a listen...

Hopefully that gave you a reason to smile today, too!