Caleb and Clayton turn FIVE!

This does not seem possible.  My babies are five!  Our lives have been turned upside down (in the best way) since they were two beating hearts on the sonogram.  I posted about this on Facebook, but God used these two boys from the beginning to lead us to down the path toward Hunter's bone marrow transplant.  Caleb and Clayton have been such a crazy fun adventure and I'm so blessed to be their mom!

If you are new to our blog or have ever wondered why Hunter received a bone marrow transplant, it's a story that sometimes even I can't believe is my life.  I was 18 weeks pregnant with the twins and got one of those Babycenter emails that usually were "your baby is the size of a peach" but instead read "8 diseases cured with cord blood."  Hunter's very rare blood disorder he was born with (Chronic Granulomatous Disease-google it and you will find out he couldn't kill bacteria) was listed.  Hunter's doctors were skeptical and called it a needle in a haystack, but the prayers we prayed for two years was for God to open the doors he wanted us to walk through.  Their cord blood sample was large, the 12 proteins were compatable together, and with Hunter's.  We were referred to the specialists at Texas Childrens' bone marrow team who had done transplants in CGD kids, and ended up using their partner team at Houston Methodist and bone marrow from an unrelated donor from the Be the Match registry.  We followed where we felt God called us, and even though there have been major bumps in the road, Hunter now has a fully functional immune system.  The twins' birthday has extra special meaning because it was the start of a new future for their daddy.  Thank you Lord, for these precious boys.   

It's gone by so fast!  I miss this itty bitty stage!

And I certainly don't miss the 13 lbs. of baby in there!

Five is such a fun age!

They had a great day at school, then got to go pick out their cake.

We asked them what they wanted to eat for their birthday, and they both were dead set on Grandy's.  I tried Chuck E Cheese and all the other kid places, but they both wanted fake nasty chicken fried steak.  So off to Grandy's we went!  I think we kinda overwhelmed the staff there and they told us it was their first party that they knew of.  We had to get a picture with the food poster on the wall.

cousins and cake

I didn't notice until looking at the pictures that there were only four candles for each of them.  Denial I guess;)

They were so loud, but no one else was there so it was fine!

We had a party for their friends at the gymnastics sports center the following Saturday with one of their besties who is three days younger.  Is it just me who noticed they're all wearing the same clothes?  I washed them in between, I promise.  The kids all burned off energy for an hour, then we ate cupcakes.  These are my favorite kind of parties, where I just show up and don't have to decorate.  Parties planning is not one of my passions.    

foam pit

Hunter showing off his pull ups

 I should have taken some more pictures of all the kids, but I didn't do a very good job.  We were busy having fun!  Ben came down with the flu, so we missed the Percivals and my parents who had their other two.  Thankfully, he felt better pretty quick and no one else got it.  We are ready for sunshine and nice weather!

The GG's fresh from their California winter spot.  We are glad they're back!

Happy birthday Caleb and Clayton!

 Hunter came home from his six months in the hospital exactly one year before the day of their party. The memory of checking him out, loading him in the car, and being greeted by our friends on the road just made this day even sweeter.  This last year hasn't been easy on any of us, and the boys have been so good through it all.  It was so great to be all together to celebrate these two precious boys of ours!  It was a perfect start to our spring break:)