Weekend Getaway

I should have warned y'all that I was going on a blogathon! :)haha!! Back in April, Mike, Daniel and I took an opportunity to get away for the weekend and we were SO glad we did! We started our trip off spending the night with longtime friends of Mike, Blair and Hannah. After arriving on a beautiful, warm Friday afternoon, we loaded back up and headed through gorgeous neighborhoods with large, mature trees, brick streets, perfectly manicured lawns, through a swanky little down town with outdoor cafe's, boutiques, bookstores, restuarants, wine and cigar bars, to a fun little water park. It was the perfect thing for all three of the kids to cool down and burn off some energy!






Just imagine shreaks of laughter and squills!!!










I think Sam is saying, "You're not supposed to drink the water Daniel!!!"






After our fun time at the water park, we enjoyed a yummy dinner out on Blair and Hannah's back deck. Mae and Sam were so cute playing with Daniel. I loved watching the three of them interact, sharing their toys with Daniel and helping him go down their slide. Thanks for your hospitality guys, we enjoyed spending time with your family! Saturday morning we packed up and headed over to Disney, that post is coming next!! ;)

Congratulations sweet friend!

On April 10th we celebrated this sweet friend, Brooke and her baby girl, Wren! Birds were the theme, and not just because of her name. Brooke has chosen Wren's bedding which has birds on it, so we went with it for the shower. (I love birds too! And if Daniel had been a girl, the bedding would have had birds on it!)

Brooke is one of the sweetest girls I know! She if very hard working, loyal, compassionate, a good listener, funny, is always herself, genuine, an excellent mother and wife, I could go on...Her husband and Mike met in college, she and Robby were friends with Mike before I was ever in the picture and they were supportive of us from the very beginning of our relationship. Mike was in their wedding, they both were in our wedding... you get the picture. She rocked my baby to sleep in those first few days after his birth when i was exhausted and needed so desperately to sleep. I love you Brooke Wren J. and cannot wait to hold your sweet little gift from God when she makes her appearance!



Jenna found the idea for these adorable cupcakes here.










If all goes according to plan, Brooke will deliver Wren on Friday morning! Please keep her, Robby, big brother Wyatt, and sweet baby girl Wren in your prayers for a healthy baby and a safe uncomplicated delivery and recovery.

A visit to Mimi's House

Forgive me but I am still blogging about April's events. I have this thing about going in chronological order and so before I tell you about the fun things May has held, I must finish up April. The week after Easter Mike's parents left, Mike went out of town for work, my mom was on Spring break and my dad was out of town for work, so Daniel and I took a road trip to visit Mimi. The day we got there, we headed out to the beach for some shopping, there is a great new park with shops, restaurants, amphitheater, amusement rides that leads to a pier on the beach. After our little trooper had had all the shopping he could handle, we took him to the amphitheater where he could run around to burn off some energy and stretch his little legs. He LOVED this idea!!










One morning we took a walk along the boardwalk and marina, Daniel loved watching some men put their boat in the water.






This rocking chair was mine when I was a little girl. I think my sister, Ashley and I each got one for Christmas one year. I thoroughly enjoyed watching Daniel climb up in it and rock!



Mom and I also worked on a few sewing projects during our stay...A john john for Daniel





And this sweet little pillow case dress for my friend Alicia's, soon to be born little sweetie, Allie Kay.

Easter

We celebrated a wonderful Easter Sunday by going to church, fellowship with family and friends, a delicious meal, and Easter egg hunt!




Last year we traveled to see my family and this year they came to us! Yeah!




I really enjoy setting the table for special occasions! :) We used my grandmother's china and Mike's grandmother's silver and crystal.



My mom used to make these cute bunny salads when I was a child, I just felt we should continue the tradition. They are made from a pear half, sliced almonds for the ears, a raisin for the nose and a marsh mellow for the tail (or you could use cottage cheese for the tail), nestled on a lettuce leaf.




My very creative sisters brought an awesome assortment of homemade Easter cookies that were almost too pretty to eat.




My silly sis, Laura thinks she will never be too old to hunt Easter eggs, go trick or treating, have Santa or the Easter Bunny leave her surprises...she is so full of life and joy and I love that about her!





It was a wonderful day and I'm so thankful that I belong to the risen Saviour! Christ paid my debt so that I can live and he didn't stay dead in the grave, he rose again, that is reason to celebrate every day!

On another note, the day after Easter we said goodbye to Mike's parents who returned to their mountain home. Many of you probably know that they lived with us during the winter, we loved seeing their relationship with Daniel grow and they were a great help to us. We love and miss you Nani and Pa.

Hunting Eggs

I'm sorry but I'm still blogging about our Easter weekend, it was SO full and I want to make sure I remember every detail! My family arrived Friday night and bright and early Saturday morning we hit the road running (not literally, but our friend Robby did). We went to see our friend, Robby, participate in his first triathalon, it was so exciting and energizing to be around so many talented athletes as they were transitioning from the bike to running and then crossing the finish line. We are so proud of Robby and I felt priveledged to witness the tears Brooke (8 months pregnant with their 2nd child) shed as she congratulated her husband. As an asside, Mike and I, stupidly, agreed to do this very triathalon many months ago. As the months passed and we slacked off of training, we bailed. Who was I kidding, I hate to run and as I stood there that morning I was so thankful that I was not the one doing all the hard work! Still very proud of Robby for finishing and doing a GREAT job at that!



Shortly after we congratulated Robby, we hurried our way over to our church property where we attended Daniel's first Easter Egg hunt. It was awesome! There was a petting zoo, pony rides (Daniel did NOT want any part of the pony rides, he preferred to look at them from a distance), tons of bounce houses, face painting, not to mention the Easter egg hunt for all ages and a yummy barbecue lunch. Our church invited the community (one of the ways we are trying to be more "missional" and especially people from the sourounding area close to the property and it seemed like there was a great turnout! It was a gorgeous day!




Daniel was in the first age group to hunt eggs. I wasn't sure how this was going to go, we did not practice hunting eggs, but he did great! He knew exactly what to do, minus one time when he picked up a rock...



and another time when he decided he wanted to eat the plastic egg without opening it up to see what was inside :)






He was so sweet, after the hunt, he handed our little friend, Cole, an egg.




Daniel liked eating the candy that was inside his egg...





My parents and sister, Ashley (& Mike's dad - not pictured), got to join us at this fun event, I think they all had a great time watching Daniel.



A rare picture of the three of us



Saturday night we grilled shish kabobs and enjoyed an appetizer of stone crab claws out on the deck, it was a perfect ending to a perfect day with our wonderful family!!!

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!