Happy Birthday Babe!

April 2nd was Mike's birthday and I intended to post something on that day about him, but wasn't able to get to it. In my last post, I shared that Mike got to join us at the Jr. Museum on his birthday for a picnic lunch. Then after lunch we drove over to see his new office, not a terrific picture but Daniel got to check out where daddy works. (And I got a mental picture of where my husband goes 5 days a week). :)


Friday night we celebrated Mike with pizza and good friends at our house (plan C, plans A & B fell through :) ). It actually worked out really well, there are so many children between all of us that it is easier in someones home, we didn't feel rushed, the kids can run around and play outside... And we could eat Mike's favorite, Cake Shop cake!



Mike has A LOT of favorite foods (luv you babe!) but ONE of them is stone crab claws, so these were a treat we enjoyed on Saturday night. ;)




I feel blessed to be married to Mike! Here are some of the things I love about him:
1. I love that he loves Jesus
2. He loves our whole family, extended family, and our friends who are like family to us!
3. He is a good daddy to Daniel and it melts my heart to see them together!
4. He has provided countless opportunities for me that I know I would not have otherwise had if it hadn't been for him
5. He loves to cook and he is VERY good at it! He doesn't usually do anything half *%!
6. He loves to fish, hunt, travel, go boating
7. He loves his alma mater!!!
8. He knows what he likes and dislikes
9. He takes care of his stuff, the house, the cars, the yard, the bills and financial things that I don't understand, the trash :)
10. He is a good provider, takes responsibility for our safety
11. He makes sure I know his unwaivering, faithful love for me and at times has treated me so extravagantly he has brought me to tears.
12. He has lost a lot of weight and has done a good job keeping most of it off, he is running several times a week, which is motivation for me to get my rear in gear!
13. Puts up with my CRAP!!!
14. He loves his job (thank you Lord!)
15. I love his laugh!!! (he laughs out loud a lot and it makes me smile and sometimes laugh)

In some ways, getting older sucks, but there are some advantages...feeling bolder, having experienced life, hopefully growing wiser, hopefully maturing spiritually...I'm so thankful to be able to grow older with you Mike! I hope we get to share many many many more years together this side of eternity, and if not, I still get to spend eternity with you and our Saviour!

Catching up on April's events

The week prior to Easter was Spring Break here, and although Daniel isn't in school, our friends are, so that meant a week of fun that we were invited to participate in! Tuesday we got to go to a BIG park with lots of fun things to climb on, the ground is soft and rubbery. Since we didn't have Bible study, some of the girls in our group decided to meet up at the park to let our kids play, we had a blast, sorry, no pics of the park. Wednesday we were invited to dye Easter eggs and eat lunch at our friend's house. Daniel wasn't too interested in dying eggs, I did four of them, mostly we just observed the other kids and I chased Daniel around. :) We wanted to make some special Easter cookies (you read scripture and some of the parts symbolize Jesus bones being crushed, the vinegar he tasted, the tomb being sealed, and the empty tomb) like our friend, Darby did, but then we realized that they are an overnight project. Maybe next year I will try them with Daniel.





Mike's parents were preparing to return to their home in the mountains and somehow we saved a lot of the things we wanted to do until the last minute, then tried to cram them all in! On Thursday, Mike's mom, Daniel, and I drove to a little quaint town north of here for some shopping and lunch in their cute downtown! We ate lunch at a little tea parlor, it had a vintage feel to it and our lunch was delicious!






On Friday, we went to the Jr. Museum. I had not been there since my 5th grade field trip! :) We were excited and it was a PERFECT day to enjoy being outside! Some of our friends from playgroup met us there. I LOVED the board walk that was completely fenced in so Daniel could run free and I didn't have to worry about him falling off!





I think Daniel was excited about seeing the "choo choo"!










It's hard to see, but the black dot in the background of this picture is a bear.




The boys were so cute looking at the animals together! When we walked to this Florida Panther habitat, Daniel said unprompted, "Meow, night night". Also hard to see, but there is a BIG Florida panther sleeping on a big cylinder platform thing.





After we saw all the animals, we let the kids play on the playground for a while. Friday, April 2nd was Mike's birthday and the museum is very close to Mike's new office, so he was able to meet us for a picnic lunch. We LOVED the Jr.Museum and will definitely being going back!

Daniel

Trying on Daddy's hat



This picture cracks me up!!! So silly!!

Spring Projects

Each one of these projects is worthy of it's own post but since I haven't blogged in a while, they will be jumbled up in one post. :) My friends Meredith and Alissa shared with me how to make a cute, inexpensive, easy burlap wreath. They found the directions here.



I used much more burlap than the directions said, probably about 3-4 times more.



The bow on my wreath is just a scrap of fabric, this wreath is hanging over our bed. :)

This is my first John John I have ever made! And second time doing button holes! After Christmas, my friend L.A. took me and some other friends to THE CUTEST LITTLE FABRIC STORE I'VE EVER SEEN in Hahira, Georgia. We spent a couple hours pouring over all the fabric and dreaming up stuff to do with it all. I got this turtle print and a similar one with crabs on it to make another John John. I got some other fabrics too, the dress below is a gift for someone special, I can't say who just yet. It is my best pillow case style dress to date. I even finished the inside seams with a zig zag stitch (since I don't have a surger, the zig zag makes it look more finished and less "home made").

About Daniel

This picture cracks me up and I just thought I would share. This post is more for my out of town family and for me to be able to remember some things about Daniel at this stage of his life (17 months). His vocabulary has really increased and here are some of the words he says:

ut oh
no
bye bye
oatmeal
all gone
Campbell
Nani
Pa
Mimi
Papa
Mommy
Daddy
Mike has been trying to get him to say "yo yo daddio" and it comes out "yo yo Daddy"
tractor
bubble
apple (he calls bananas apples)
cookie (in reference to goldfish or any other cracker that is in his snack container)
papi (meaning pacifier)
car
ball
ba (meaning sheep)
night night
good job
oooh wow
yeah
hot, cold (he is obsessed with saying these words when you put any food in front of him)
bird
down
cheese

He constantly cracks me up! Sometimes when I change his diaper, he will grab my left arm and hug it and simultaneously say, "hia gir" (aka Hi girl!) ha ha!!

He LOVES books! Yesterday morning after breakfast, I found him in his room looking at books (and pulling all of them off the shelf), there were books completely sorounding him! He LOVES LOVES LOVES his Bible story book and gets SO excited to read the stories!

He loves taking a bath and will sometimes lay on his tummy and kick his legs and arms like he's swimming.

He LOVES to be outside, he is a little explorer and definetely ALL BOY!!! That boy loves sticks, rocks, dirt, and to roam outside for hours (if I would let him).

He is VERY active and wants to constantly be on the move, he keeps me on my toes! :) I love you Daniel, more than I thought humanly possible! Thank you God for Daniel and the joy he brings us!

Happy Anniversary

We celebrated 7 years of marriage yesterday by going away for one night this past weekend. The weather was gorgeous and we decided to start our getaway by going to Torreya State Park for a picnic and hike.





Then we drove to Apalachicola. We checked into The Coombs House Inn, a beautiful bed and breakfast built in 1905, dropped off our stuff in the room and then went poking around the quaint little downtown. We stopped for an ice cream cone and then walked over to the river where some shrimp boats were docked.








We had dinner at the Owl Cafe, the same restaurant where we ate the night we got engaged. Our table was upstairs, in the corner by the window overlooking the Apalachicola river, it was perfect, as was our meal! Over dinner every year on our anniversary, we like to reminisce about the highs and lows from the past year of our marriage, we talk about the lows to remind us of how we've grown or what God has taught us from the rough times. We also like to remember the good times, my intention is to write these things down in a journal we have and I have never done it. This year I realized if I don't write this stuff down, I will forget a lot of it, it's already hard to remember the past 7 years and we hope there will be many many many more years and memories to come, so I better get writing!




We ate lunch at the Blue Parrot on St. George Island and went for a long walk on the beach before heading back home. It was another gorgeous day!!





You will notice the hills in the background of this photo, they are mounds of oyster shells, they were everywhere in Apalachicola!



Thank you babe for a wonderful anniversary celebration, and thank you Nani and Pa for watching Daniel for us! (this was the first time we had left him overnight and he did great!) I was tearful when we said our goodbyes but I did fine and only called once to check in on them. :) I am so thankful for the past 7 years, the low points and the high ones, and excited to see what God will do in our lives in the future. I love you Mike!!! XOXO

Trip to South Florida

A week and half ago, we went to South Florida for Mike's sister and brother in law's 25th anniversary celebration. On the way down, we decided to stop for dinner in Downtown Disney and let Daniel get out of the carseat to burn off some energy. It was a very good decision!

Daniel LOVED it and it was a fun way to do a little Disney on the cheap.



On the way back to the car, we walked through one of the stores and Daniel kept saying, "ooh, wow", there were lots of different Disney characters on the ceiling and he was loving taking it all in!



Daniel's cousin, Hannah was SO excited to see him and she was a big help while Carol and I worked on making the cake for the party.





Here is the cake, it is not professional by any means! I made the gooey butter cake for the bottom layer and it sank, just like I knew it would, but it tasted really good. Carol made a white butter cake for the top layer and we put raspberry preserves between the layers. We frosted it with buttercream frosting and then covered it with fondant. I wrapped each layer with 1.5inch grossgrain ribbon and secured the ribbon with a pearl tipped pin, then piped on butter cream frosting to make swiss dots all over the layers. Carol placed her original Lladro bride and groom cake topper to the side of the cake (we were afraid it might fall off the cake and didn't want it to break). The cake is sitting on top of the silver cake pedestal used for Mike's and my wedding cake.



We stayed with Mike's brother, Doug, sister in law, Christi and boys, Gregg and Jack. The boys were so sweet with Daniel, my heart was melting watching his cousins interact with him. Christi pulled out some of their toys from when they were babies for Daniel to play with, he especially loved chasing thier dog around with a toy fishing rod.





Doug and Christi are excellent cooks and always feed us SO well when we come to visit! They have a beautiful fish tank that Mike LOVES!



Nani and Pa with all their grandchildren, Hannah (13), Daniel (16months), Gregg, (12), Jack (9), Josh (18), Emily (11).



It isn't very often that we have an opportunity for our whole family to get together & take a great picture! I love how Hannah and Pa are looking at Daniel in this picture.



During the party, Hannah danced beautifully to "I can only Imagine", she did a great job! We had a wonderful trip and enjoyed time with our family despite Daniel being sick the whole trip, we spent our last day (Valentine's Day) enjoying a picnic lunch and walk on the beach and boardwalk before driving back home.








We are looking at the Goodyear blimp passing by.