To celebrate Britt’s birthday this year we went to Disney back in October. We had planned a Disney trip in November for her but once we got matched with Mama E we thought it’d be wise to bump the trip up just in case. We had a BLAST at MNSSHP and a great trip celebrating Britt.
Leading up to her actual birthday we planned a dinner out with Zach’s family. Whenever we do a trip rather than a big party for the kids, we always try to get together with the family for a celebration dinner. Britt chose Ci-Ci’s and said she wanted donuts as her birthday cake. When Mama E went into labor that morning we told the family to just keep the plan for that evening and to still celebrate Britt, even though Zach and I couldn’t be there.
I think it worked out great and was a great thing for everyone to focus on!
It’s neat b/c at the EXACT minute Spear was born all of our family were together celebrating Britt’s birthday! A double birthday celebration 🙂
(sidenote: but I’m so impressed with all the picture taking!)
Spoiled.
The whole gang!
The visit the kids had to meet Spear was very brief and it was tough only getting to see each other for such a short period of time. They’d been waiting so long for this precious boy and then had to leave him just as quick as they met him!
When we originally discussed NICU/ICPC stay we planned on being together as a family as much as possible. If we’d had NICU then Zach and I would have traded off on the weekends, he’d come down to spend time with Spear and I’d go home to spend time with the older kids. Since we didn’t experience NICU we went straight into our ICPC plan which was for Zach and the kids to come visit as much as possible. We planned for long weekends, assuming the kids would miss school on Friday and Monday each weekend so we could be together as a family!
It ended up working out a little differently though due to Britt’s birthday falling during our ICPC stay. Her birthday is Dec 6th which fell on a Wednesday this year and made plans a little tricky. Obviously we all wanted to celebrate her birthday together so as soon as school ended for the day on Tuesday the 5th, Zach and the kids drove down to Jacksonville and we all stayed the night at Mrs. Norma’s and Mr. Roy’s house. They were SO generous in opening their home to us all!
The kids were SO pumped to see their new brother. When they arrived Mrs. Norma and Mr. Roy were hosting a dinner for our family as well as for their children and grandchildren. It was SO great to visit with them all and for our kids to get to play with Elaine’s kids. They all got along so well and kept asking if they could have a sleep over 😉
Reunited! Zach really struggled with the distance and having to be away from Spear and me. It made sense for him to go home to be with the older kids and to be able to work (no work – no income when it comes to being self employed) but it was def hard not being together.
Our crews together!
The kids table 😉
I LOVE Mrs. Norma and Mr. Roy’s home. Since their children are around my age it felt like a home I could have grown up in. So many little details reminded me of my childhood! The kids were drawn to the piano and all wanted to take turns playing songs!
This was the room where Spear was sleeping during my stay but it made sense to have him sleep in a different area so the kids could all pile in. It worked out great!
Last night as a 5 year old!!!
I slept on the couch that night and Zach handled night duty with Spear which was SO sweet of him! Benefit of bottle feeding for sure 🙂
We had Britt wait in her room for awhile that morning in order to get Spear ready for the day so we could all go in and wish her a happy birthday together! Our birthday tradition is waking up the birthday child by all singing as a family and it made my heart so happy that Britt was so excited about doing that 🙂
Kye and Tess loved getting to see Spear first thing in the morning: here they are waking him up and here is Tess singing to him 🙂 And us singing to Britt! Once we sang to Britt then Kye wanted his turn to sing to Spear AND Britt wanted a turn to sing to him too. It was a song filled morning! We have THE sweetest kids for sure.
Taking notes on the number of diapers Spear had in the night 😉
Pass the baby for morning cuddles!
Mrs. Norma was super sweet to let me do a little decorating in their dining room. I had Zach bring down a box I’d put together with Moana plates and a Moana banner for her special birthday breakfast!
Donuts are our go-to birthday breakfast treat!
Present time!
Grandpa and Grammie sent her $20!!! We were all kinda freaking out by that surprise and Kye was a bit envious 😉
On one of my Disney solo days I picked this up for Britt. I had a dream catcher as a little girl and thought this was just so cute (it’s from Canada in Epcot)
Britt always says she LOVES to get boxes as presents ha!
Yay for Angel!
Sending a pic to Grandpa and Grammie to thank them for her gifts!
All her presents, she’s super into Moana, Trolls and Doc McStuffins right now
Tess was SO excited to get to ride with Spear! She kept saying “my baby is so cute!”
For Britt’s birthday celebration we went to a fancy AMC theater they had in town and all got food and candy and saw Coco. Oh my goodness we LOVED it. SUCH a great movie!!! More than the movie we were watching, I just loved ALL being together. I just sat in my seat holding Spear and looking at him and then looking over at my amazing husband and incredible children and just felt so content and happy and overjoyed. I cried those pure type of happy tears and just prayed and thanked God for His unending blessings. So, so thankful. This memory together will forever be special to me (which totally makes Coco a new fav movie for me too!).
Spear’s first outing and our first outing as a family of 6!
Tess was so proud that she ate all her popcorn 😉
All Kye wanted to do all day was hold his new brother!
I had to take Spear to his chiropractor appointment (more on that in an upcoming post) so I ran to do that while Zach got everything loaded up to head back home .
I got to the chiro before they opened so I just plopped on the sidewalk and fed Spear leaning against a building ha!
Britt decided where she wanted to go for her bday treat…we were all SO stuffed from lunch so we skipped dinner and Britt wanted some ice cream so DQ for the win!
SO thankful I got to spend Britt’s special day with her!!!
Our sweet Britt is 6! Happy Birthday to my sunshine 
☀️ You are always making sure everyone around you feels loved and special and you light up every room you enter with your beautiful smile 
☺️ I love you! 
They hit the road as soon as we finished up our ice cream. Whew. The lump in my throat was something fierce when I said goodbye to them. To have all of our dreams come true, our family complete, and to feel that amazing feeling of contentment that day was almost like a tease. I knew we still had a LONG wait until Spear and I could be home and it was just SO incredibly hard to see so many of the pieces of my heart leave. I had a pretty hardcore cry while driving back to Mrs. Norma’s house. I was just so ready and eager to ALL be together again!
I told Zach the other night that the way I felt that day was similar to what contestants on Survivor probably feel when their family comes to visit towards the end of the experience. It’s SO awesome and exciting but it’s just not quite long enough and only leaves you wanting more. I was VERY thankful that we only had a couple more days until the weekend and that we’d all get to be together for some good quality family time.
It was SUCH a special day and the perfect way to celebrate our special girl Britt! She loved getting to skip school, go on a trip, and to get to celebrate her birthday with her little brother. She said he’s the best birthday gift ever!
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