The one where Mally my Pally GRADUATES!

 I started this blog when our girls were babies...I mean Scott and I were basically babies too.  I know blogs are really a thing of the past. Y'all for a few years I did a really great job of printing my blogs into books at the end of the year...I got them out for Mal's grad party and OH. MY. GOODNESS. What a gift to my heart!! I am SO thankful I documented so much of our lives. I had forgotten so many of my own stories. I wish I would have kept writing as the kids got older and life got busier. Even if I only printed it for our own eyes each year. Sigh...is what it is. But I just HAD to dust off my old bloggity blog to write about Mal's final chapter at home before she takes on the world! It just doesn't seem right to not send her off with an entry from mama! Here we go...

Mally my Pally...my first born baby. Look at YOU!! Look at all those CORDS!! You my darling are a GIFT to me. I am, of course, beyond proud of all you have accomplished and how smart, dedicated and hard working you are!! I am, of course, so proud that you spent your high school years at Olathe North in the Distinguished Scholars program...National Honors Society, English National Honors Society, Senior Leadership, Newspaper Staff, BAND, band leadership, 4.598 GPA and the list goes on... girlfriend...you kicked high schools butt!! Fo'sure!! But here is the real deal...you, my precious daughter, are an empath. You are FULL of LOVE, LIGHT, EMPATHY, COMPASSION...you are the first to lead the way in changing ANY injustice...you are the first to see and FEEL the hurt of others. Sometimes I worry and always I PRAY over your soft heart. You feel SO deeply. It is hard for you to forgive when the hurt to you is deep and that, you got from me...I SO want to take that part away....BUT...I am thankful Jesus chose you to have ALL of your gifts combined because together with your intelligence and your character and your HEART you are going to be an unstoppable world CHANGER!

As we close out your 12 years of education at home with us...I give THANKS! I give thanks to SO many beautiful educators, schools, friends, FAMILY and EXTRA MAMAS! I know you know that it takes a VILLAGE, my precious girl. Yours has been, SO FULL! You had such a unique experience of attending schools in Texas, Florida, Canada and back in forth in-between Olathe....specifically Blackbob. We have been protected, loved, prayed for and blessed by SO many amazing people. I could never find the words to thank our village. We all gathered together last Friday to celebrate you and your dear friend, Paige. I know you girls felt the LOVE!! Your mamas sure felt the LOVE too... 

It has taken me nearly a whole entire week to even ATTEMPT to form words of love and thankfulness for the village that came to show you and Paige LOVE. One side note...my biggest mistake that I have taken note of for Miss Whit in 2 years is not hiring or assigning a photographer.. I tried to snap pics right at the beginning before it got busy to get myself going and then I got distracted with HUGS AND TEARS AND LAUGTER and just became a full on ridiculous MESS that I never took another picture....not even a family shot of the 6 of us!! Like, what in the actual WORLD!!?? All I can say is I never in my whole life will recover or forget the amount of people and love that was showered on us. I am HUMBLED!!

I feel like the only place to start sharing pictures is with Daddy and I...you are officially an entire year OLDER now than when we first met and started dating. I am so sorry....we are still so young, cute, adorable and IN LOVE...no way this whole having a high school graduate is possible!! Absolutely, NOT!! Sigh...we are blessed beyond measure and ready to cheer you on loud and proud as a Jayhawk!! We will ALWAYS be your biggest fans our Pally!! 

Speaking of still being totally young... we are going to move right along to these people....SO thankful to you my Pally for saying...mom we NEED a college bestie pic!! You did a better job than me with pictures!! Every one of these people held you in the hospital....are you kidding me? I can't even form words through my tears. They stood by us on our wedding day, they danced many of nights away at Bootleggers in the Burg with us...okay Val and I did the dancing but our guys were always nearby....I don't have words for what these humans mean to us. I am so thankful you have been loved by them, Mallory. Our village is strong and beautiful...

OH Mal...our Cheryl and our Bean....Auntie Cheryl threw your baby shower!! She threw my wedding shower too...our Vickers...there are not enough words for me to form in order to express to you the significance of letting people in and not letting them go. We have made so much family along the way that God chose for us...I can't wait to see all the family you keep adding to our crew as you adventure along your way. I know this...our whole damn fam will open their big ol' hearts and loving arms to embrace them like we have known them all along!

Speaking of FAMILY...Mimi, Papi and Auntie Amy all arrived at the venue with us hours early...they worked and sweated making veggie cups and building my balloon arch. Our family is just ridiculously off the charts in the way the show up and LOVE! Look at Mimi in her Rock Chalk Ready outfit she went and thrifted just for her Mally!! You got your love for a great thrifting find from your Mimi and it is so fitting she found this adorable outfit just for you at Blessings Abound! Makes me SMILE!! And Uncle Curtiss... I can't even. God is so GOOD!! 

More fam jam!! Auntie Steph was pumped to get her shot with the Marching Mal poster!! And our littlest cousin crew!! We sure ADORE our Wagners!! Look at our Oldest and Youngest together!!! Sobbing!! I love you babies to infinity and beyond!!! You already know the only thing that even compares to being a mama to you and your siblings is being an auntie to my 2 sisters babies! I am so stinking thankful y'all know and love each other SO well!!! 

Speaking of being an auntie...I totally failed on getting Graybeal family pics but I am so thankful Auntie Cheryl snapped this one with Aunt Stac! So thankful for her love of you!!

I massively failed on getting pics of all our Blackbob fam but I got a few1 I LOVE this one because our beloved Mrs. Henderson not only taught you 2nd grade but she taught Scotty in 1st grade!! I mean our love for her is just not even explainable!!!

So happy Dr. Cook popped by early so I caught a pic!! I can't even begin to write about her without just becoming a PUDDLE!! This amazing woman is the reason we have our Blacbob family....living at Mimi's in SMSD....slide in....living in Canada home for a few weeks....slide in....home for a few months.... back for a few years...returned but now out of boundaries...COME HOME! Our Dr. Cook LOVED us and our Mal through the trenches!! She made a home that was always ready and waiting with a huge hug and love and just a good ol' welcome HOME, we missed you!! One of the rarest gems out there and I am so thankful she was ours!!

Speaking of Blackbob families...these mamas...the amount of times you stayed at their houses or their girls at ours...the amount of rides shared... talent shows, field days, field trips, near losses, actual losses, laughter, tears, joys, triumphs, hard times and good times. It is so hard to build a community like this and I am just so darn THANKFUL for what we accomplished loving each other and our babies!!

So I know you and Char are going to laugh at Tina and I for the way this picture is shared but whatever ;) I can't write you a post about your party and the closing of this beautiful chapter without a special note about our Char-Char....my beautiful girls. I love you both so much and I am so thankful that you have been a part of each other's stories since the very first day of kindergarten. The amount of life you two have shared is just mind boggling. I am so proud of you both and humbled by the way that no matter what life brings...you are sisters. Hold on to this your whole life my Mal...I know you both can't imagine at 18 but you will be there for each others weddings, and hold each others babies in the hospital and party the night away when those babies hit huge milestones. I love you girls!

One last personal note before I add some decor pics...I have to include these pictures of your sister and Simon...I don't know how this blog will age but I know this...these two were so wonderful and supportive to you and our family at your big event. Simon even swooped in and saved Bro from mama's wrath after he turned his brand new themed outfit blue and soaking wet before guests even arrived....Simon may have worn purple and held up a power cat...but...he also helped set up and clean up and took lots of pictures for you on the film cameras. I pray that whatever the story may hold that you and Whitney Grace always love and and support each other and your people. It brings me such JOY when your people become each other's people. We are so blessed to have Simon in our tribe! Thankful beyond words! 

Enjoy the few scenery shots I managed and the few I borrowed from you...I am sorry I didn't get more photos. I am SO thankful for the friends, family, friends that ARE family, teachers, childhood friends, college friends, students, co-workers and on and on and on that came to show YOU love! I am humbled, I am thankful. May you bottle up all the love and tuck it in your heart and carry it to Lawrence with you. Anytime when things seem like too much just know you are prayed for and you are loved and you have a village that will show up in an instant. Mallory, I adore you. I am proud of you. I am thankful you are my daughter. When we move you in to that dorm room in August....I will see this.... I love you forever and always, Mama.

Baptism

First borns tend to have extravagant scrapbooks, am I right? I spent at least one million hours pouring it Mal's!  Today I dug them out in search of  May 29, 2005! The day our 8 week old Mallory Suzanne was Baptized in front of friends and family by our beloved Pastor Patrick Wildman at Christ Church Anglican.  I am so very thankful we come from a long history of love for Jesus Christ and the tradition of Infant Baptism. It is special to me. It is important to me. 

It is important to me that our babies had this beautiful ceremony. It is important to me that Scotty and I chose God Parents for each of them and all stood up together in front our family our Lord and Savior to declare that we would raise our children to love and serve the Lord and others. I would not change one thing about choosing infant Baptism for our babies. I still do and always will believe in one Baptism for the forgiveness of all Sins. 

So much has changed since this beautiful Baptism day. We have lost Scott's grandma on this earth but we know she is with Jesus. Our family has grown and grow and grown!

We have made 4 major moves including 3 states and Canada! 

We witnessed miracles in Steph and Kevin's lives being saved from their near fatal accident. We survived 19 nights in a Canadian hospital as 28 day old Brody battled sepsis. 

We have lived some life and we have seen some things. But we have lived well and laughed endlessly and felt covered by the Lord every single step of the way!

Through our moves around the state and country we transitioned to attending Non-denominational Bible Churches. We found amazing churches and communities every where we lived. We will never not love and appreciate Christ Church Anglican. It is such a special piece of our family. During all of our moves Mallory absolutely fell in love with giving back! She now spends countless hours volunteering in children' ministry and special needs ministry at vacation bible school at thrift stores and at harvesters. It has been an absolute privilege as her mama to watch her heart for volunteer work and giving to others grow.  

Mal loves to spend her free time with her Grace group and at Grace activities. She loves to pour into her devotionals and her quiet time. She loves the Lord. Her walk with Him is important to her and she asked us if we would be okay with her being Baptized, again. 

Baptized, again? But what about the huge Baptism she had? What about one Baptism for the forgiveness of all sins? Coming from a large family of Catholics/Anglicans it is a question being asked of us. We understand and I myself had to really take some time to pray over this. So the big difference in our kids story than my story....I was Catholic/Episcopal my whole life so I had the opportunity to go through Confirmation and confirm my own choice to Love and Follow the Lord. It is a wonderful memory of mine and such an important part of the fabric of who I am. I still remember so fondly those friends and those mentors and can clearly see my Confirmation day in my mind. I was surrounded by friends and family and all 4 of my Grandparents. It was so special. I understand Mallory wanting to stand up and choose Jesus for herself. I really do.

Grace does not have Infant Baptism so they do not have Confirmation...they do one Baptism when you are ready to make the choice for yourself. Mallory really wants to make the choice for herself and proclaim her own decision to love and follow the Lord. We LOVE that. We love that Mal is her own person. We love that she is choosing Jesus. Every day of her 14 years that has been my prayer that she may know and love the Lord. I see it in her all the time. I see Him in her. 

I am so excited and humbled and grateful and all the FEELS to watch her be Baptized at 8:00 am on Easter morning! She feels it is so special to be Baptized on Easter! Of course my girl being who she  is volunteering at 3 of the other services on Easter....so 8:00 am it is! I can NOT think of a better way to start our Easter morning!

If you are home for Easter and would like to join us for an amazing start to the day come on out to Grace Church South Overland Park bright and early and sit with us! We would love to worship with you and Mal would love to see your loving faces! You each are so very important to us! I mean....if you are an original blog follower...you are actually a saint! I love y'all! I am thankful for y'all! HAPPY EASTER!! HE IS RISEN!!

For you, our precious sons,

We send a birthday prayer

That you may both know God’s love

With the unfolding of each year

And that you'll both come to know

God's purpose and His plan

As you walk with God through life

Together, hand in hand.

Bentley and Brody,

You are both SO loved by daddy and I. We are so thankful you are our sons. You are each so uniquely you and so full of fun and fire. You make our days so crazy and silly and beyond busy. We love every single second of it! We pray that you will always know that you are unconditionally loved by us!!

We had way too much fun with the silly photo booth at your party yesterday!! I am so glad you are surrounded by so much fun and laughter~crazy family is the best kind of family!!

Love my hubby! 

I wonder who is under those masks...

Look who is excited to be turning 5!! 5...? Wait that can't be right!! Yikes!!

OH MY HEART!! Love our munchkins so much!!

Mommy and her baby!! How is my little baby 2!?

Birthday Boys!!

Love my guys!!

 The girls and I had fun testing the photo booth the night before ;)

Pumpkin themed bash this year!! 

An easy and fun game...I will be taking this with to Whit's class party coming up!!

Simple and yet so fun! Photo booth!!

A fun little banner I made...nice to leave up for all of October!

Birthday banners! I loved crafting in fall colors!! :)

Coloring station!! :)

Pumpkin decorating! This was a huge hit! My kids kept going back to it even last night!

Our little patch to pick your own pumpkin to decorate!

I love to decorate for parties! Something about knowing the family will all be together! It just fills my cup! :)

 

I really love having these for my beverage station. :) A happy purchase!

Thank you pinterest for this candy apple bar idea! So much fun (and easier) than when I made the candied apples the last time!! :)

I am slowly but surely improving on my cake pops...they always taste delicious its just the look I am working on ;) But the patch was quickly empty so they were a hit!!

 I love these little stickers!! :) And the goodies inside are another pinterest idea...Halloween Bark! Yummo!! 

So...even though all the party prep is so fun for me...it is made fun by the people I get to share it with on the party day! My heart could not be more full from the amount of love and laughter that filled our home yesterday. After 2 years of missing these faces I could just cry having them all gathered together in our new home!!

A whole weekend with Uncle Bench...my kids are exhausted and SO happy!! 

Is that my bestie under there!? And where did she find all these cute boys!? I love the Williams!!! 

There are no words...little nephews you are the BEST!!!

The ladies of my heart!!! I could not love each of you anymore!! This is perfection!!

I don't have the words to describe how much I love these pictures and the people in them! My first kids and my big sister and my extra dad! I mean really...Vicker's family you make my heart so full!! 

I love you guys!!!

How much fun is this!? We love the Albury's!!

I can't even...the UNCLES...this is just priceless! Man our kids are blessed!!

Who's the cute lady with my fav baby girl on her hip!?

My little Leo man!! :)

Crafting away! :)

Love her!!!!

Pregnant cutie!! PS...HAVE I MENTIONED THE WAGNERS ARE MOVING TO KC!!??

 I am just A LITTLE EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

The original 5...am I really this lucky!? And no wonder I am nuts...I come by it naturally! ;)

I can't even get enough of this girl!!!! I mean her cuteness is just the ultimate!!

I love my n'laws!!!! I mean...my kids just really have it made in the grandparent department!!!

Sorry Katie...Auntie Sarah is going to have to keep this one. ;) Look at that face!!!

Thank you all so much for loving us through our travels and for welcoming us back home. Thank you to our family for sharing in the boys birthday party. I look forward to welcoming you all into our home for many more fun times together SOON!

xoxox

Love,

Sarah