birthday party pics

ok, so i had a really hard time picking only a few pictures from malachi's TWO birthday parties in california for the last update. so i decided to do another post more devoted to just the pics. what a blessed little boy to already have two parties and his birthday was still a month away! he is so loved! :)

the first party was at my parent's house up in northern california. we did it the day before the graduation so that everyone had come into town and could all celebrate with us! i made the cake and it was a lot of fun! we did lunch and then cake after.

the set-up on my parents back porch!

this new face he discovered with the scrunchy nose - so cute!

family pic before the cake destruction

not really sure what to think about the singing and the flame..

he put his hand in the frosting and then looked at me like "mom, is this ok?"

well, he clearly didn't need much convincing - two hands in now!

family pic after the cake destruction

these two pictures make me laugh so hard - malachi was very interested in the party blower my dad had until my dad blew it out in his face and then he wasn't so interested anymore! haha! :)

the before cake

when we went down to southern california to see Jeff's family they also did a birthday party for malachi - so fun! we went to this fun ice cream parlor/restaurant called Farrell's. it was intense! it is obviously a hot-spot for parties and celebrations and they make a BIG deal of every one of the parties. so it's really loud and really high energy. i wasn't sure how malachi would do but he did great. i guess he just started to ignore the noise after a while :)

there was a special sticker for malachi when we got there :)

cousin love!

that funny face again :)

Kay remembering her previous life with 2 boys 13 months apart. and Jaylon and Malachi are just about 12 months apart - pretty close to jeff and brandon's distance!

learning to walk

they came and sang to him and brought him a free sundae for his birthday :)

blowing out the candle

enjoying his ice cream

the brothers and their families (can you tell which one is jeff's brother?!?! i know... they look nothing alike! ;) hehe)

we had such a fun time celebrating our little boy TWO times already. and there is another party coming next month closer to his actual birthday. we are so very blessed with wonderful families!!!

it's been too long!

ok so my little *almost* 2 month hiatus on the blog was definitely not intentional and for it i am so sorry! hope you guys haven't missed my ridiculous ramblings around here too much ;)

but you guys, seriously, may has been a whirlwind! and the second half of april was a whirlwind getting ready for may! so let's recap, shall we?

on may 1, malachi and i flew to california. just the two of us- on a plane- for 6 hours - enough said. it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be, but it was definitely not my idea of a good time. let's just say i was soooooo ecstatic to see the Sacramento airport and my family for more reasons than one! :) poor jeff was home alone for 10 days. so to help prepare for my departure i spent the week before i left making meals to go in the freezer for him, doing laundry and generally getting the house in a good place so he wouldn't have to worry about anything for the time i was gone.

then on may 10, jeff joined us in cali. we were SO happy to see him! we missed him so much :) and the reason for everyone converging in california, you might ask? my sister graduated from law school may 12! we are so proud of her and happy for all she has accomplished!! :) we spent a few more days with my family and then flew down to southern california to see jeff''s family. we spent about 4 days there and then flew home. whew! what a whirlwind!

this trip to california also included a baby shower for my brother and sister-in-law's little boy due in september, two birthday parties for malachi, since our families won't be able to make it out for his real birthday next month and a graduation party the night after the graduation. such a fun but jam-packed trip!

so let's get to the good stuff - the pictures! we got some really fun pictures of all the festivities :) here are just a few highlights...

malachi zonked out half-way through Katie's shower :)

my beautiful sis-in-law at her shower

my sis the Juris Doctor!

us with the happy grad!

so excited about his cake!

cute :)

my sis got malachi a cape for his birthday - so perfect!

super baby!

the Mixon men at malachi's southern california party

his very own birthday sundae :)

what a cutie! he climbed in all by himself.

matching poppop at church

our walk to the park

we had such a fabulous time in california and we have some other adventures coming up that i will be sure to update you on before another 2 months pass! ha! ;)

until then,
Love from the Mixon house!

He is Risen!

in my family growing up we would always wake each other up on Easter morning by entering the person's room and shouting "He is Risen!" to which the person you were talking to was supposed to reply "He is Risen Indeed!" (and this response would come quickly or not so quickly depending on how awake the person was ;) haha)
this back and forth has been a common greeting on Easter Morning throughout church history and i absolutely love it and hope to carry on the tradition in our little family.
Christ has Risen and the grave could not hold him. our hope for salvation is so tied to the Resurrection and the reality that it happened! Praise God that he has accepted the payment for our sins and showed it by raising His son on Easter Morning!
just like the Christmas holiday, Easter is not about bunnys and eggs and new dresses or suits. as fun as those things are. the true reality of Easter is that our Savior who died on the cross for our sins was raised to life to show that his payment was acceptable to the Father. now that is GREAT news! :)
have a blessed Easter Sunday!
love from the Mixon House!

Good Friday?!?!

growing up in a christian context, Good Friday is not a strange term to me. it has been a part of my life every year for as long as i can remember. but you might ask, "then why the question marks?" well, just because something is common and familiar doesn't mean that it shouldn't be evaluated and thought through deeply.
so the last few years i have sought to think through Easter and the events surrounding it through the eyes of the unbeliever. and Good Friday is such a strange term for what actually happened that day 2,000 years ago. what is possibly good about the death of an innocent man? what is good about the beatings and mocking he endured? what is good about his journey to Golgotha carrying his own beam that he would be nailed to once he arrived on that hill? there isn't much good to see when you just look at the events of Good Friday! it all seems dark and grim and hopeless.

Luke 23:44-49

^"44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,⁴⁵ while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. ⁴⁷ Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” ⁴⁸ And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. ⁴⁹ And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things."

BUT GOD...
i feel like that phrase should come next! whenever i see that phrase in scripture i hang on to my seat to see what God is going to do next! and what God does next here is just incredible!

Luke 24:1-12

"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵ And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” ⁸ And they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹ but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened."

God raised Jesus from the dead! now that just doesn't happen! but He did to show that the payment for the sin of the world was acceptable to God. and Jesus had to die on Good Friday so that he could be raised to life 3 days later! only in the light of Easter are the events of Good Friday truly GOOD! through our reliance and faith in Jesus Christ we can come near to God because Jesus took away our sins on that cross 2,000 years ago. now THAT is good news!
as you celebrate this Easter weekend, find hope in this Good Friday if you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. and if you are not, lay your life and desires down before the cross that you may truly know the hope that Easter morning brings!

Isaiah 53:4-6,11

 ^"4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities."

march in our home and malachi - 10th month

can you believe it?!?! 10 months! my heart skipped a beat when i just typed that. i cannot believe our little man is going to be 10 months old in just a few short days! wow time flies!

i know it's been a little while and i have been neglecting my little blog but seriously life has just been too much lately. march felt like it was here and gone in a blink of an eye. things have been busy to say the least. but that's how it is and we love it either way. not to mention the 70-80 degree (!!!) weather we have been having this march. un.b.e.l.i.e.v.a.b.l.e! so we have been spending more time outside! but on to the good stuff...

during malachi's 10th month -

- he has gotten the army crawl down!

i know i said last month that he was scooting around on his belly but this is well beyond scooting - he is full on crawling. mostly on his belly still but he will push up on his hands and knees a little bit. but when he really wants to get around he is all about his belly. and he is getting really fast too!

 - he is pulling himself up!

just this week actually he pulled himself up in his crib during nap time and then cried because he couldn't get back down. it was so pitiful but so cute ;) he is working on pulling himself up on other furniture as well, but the crib is the only successful attempt so far.

- he can go from belly to sitting.
this used to be a one-way thing. he would lunge forward from sitting to crawl on his belly but then he would be stuck on his belly till someone sat him back up. now he has figured out how to push himself back up to a sitting position.

- he experienced his first playground time!

 like i said, it's been crazy weather here and so warm. so we have been taking lots of walks and spending some much needed time at the park. malachi got pushed in the swing for the first time and really seemed to enjoy it and then went down the slide with daddy. it was fun! :) and actually, my parents sent him a swing for the tree in the back yard for his Easter present. so now we have a swing at home for him to enjoy!

- he is still eating like a big boy!

he eats so much but he is still low weight (nothing worrisome though!) so the doctor keeps telling me to feed him as much as he wants (lucky boy did not get his metabolism from me!) this month at his doctors appointment he weighed in at 19 pounds and 29 inches (25th percentile for weight and 75th for height)

he is now in 9-12 month clothes and pretty much all of his pants are 12 month or they are too short.

he now eats 3 solid meals a day and a bottle before every meal and at bedtime. on a sadder note, we are done nursing :( i wasn't quite ready but he clearly was, so we are done. it's just one of those things you can't force, so when it's done it's done. i am so thankful i was able to nurse him for 9 months though and i know that was a great start for him!

- he still naps like a champ!

and for that i am so thankful! he takes a morning and afternoon nap, and sleeps about 2 hours in each one. it is so nice to have some time to myself and time to get stuff done. malachi still doesn't really "get" (or doesn't want to get) independent playtime, so his waketime is not my most productive time of the day. but it's ok. we get some great playtime together :)

that is pretty much our march! it has been a great month and we are still so amazed at how gracious God is to give us this little boy to love and raise. we pray everyday that God will save him and that he will be a mighty man of God.

enjoy a few other pictures from our month!

love from the Mixon House!



we went "Nerd Bowling" with the youth group - malachi wasn't so keen on the glasses we wanted him to wear for the picture ;)