Six Years Ago Today . . .

We were in church . . . celebrating.  I'm the one up front dressed all in white.

This quote from C. S. Lewis sums up the last six years beautifully.

"This is one of the miracles of love:  it gives a power of seeing through its own enchantments and yet not being disenchanted."

Then there's this quote from Ben Franklin:

"Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half-shut afterwords."

Ten things I remember about that day:

 1.  It was a beautiful day into evening, the weather couldn't have been nicer.

 2.  We had a full moon, a blue moon.  (For those of you who don't know what that is, it is the second full moon in a month, considered to be good luck in some cultures.)

 3.  My brother Phil told everyone during his toast that he was only there for the cake.

 4.  We were having so much fun they had to kick us out.

 5.  The light streaming through the stained glass windows cast a golden glow across the sanctuary.  It was magical.

 6.  Pastor Mike brought his trumpet and played along with the band

 7.  My father-in-law sang "Blue Moon" as the band played.

 8.  Everyone cried but me, even the groom.  I was too happy and excited to cry.

 9.  It was the best wedding I have ever attended.

10.  My niece caught the bouquet and her brother caught the garter.

And I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the wedding and reception.

(Are we on photo overload yet?  It is hard to pick, there are so many good ones.)

All pictures are courtesy of Bruce Gardner Photography.  Thanks Bruce.

Name Change

I'm thinking of changing the boy's names to Mr. Twister and Dr. Destructo,  'cause no one can move through a room faster and leave a trail of toys and games and crayons, etc, etc, etc in their wake faster than they can.  And it's not even noon yet!

Maybe I should change the blog title too, call it "Raising Cain and Able".

What do you think?

Or I could just hire a nanny and/or a maid.

Oh wait, we're broke.

Drat.

Never mind.

Trapped

EM thinks he's going to climb the gate and go up the stairs.

Sometimes I feel trapped . . . like an animal in a cage, only my gate keepers are 9 months and 3 1/2 years old.

I'd forgotten how confining an infants schedule can be . . . oh wait what schedule, it seems to change monthly weekly daily.

He's been refusing to nap lately and the fight to get him down is wearing thin.

I think I need a play date.

Any takers?

Sans kids.

Obviously.

This morning he head bonked me and gave me a fat lip . . .  nice.

He thinks I'm a jungle gym.

Both boys have a cold and my day isn't complete if one or both of them hasn't wiped their snotty nose on me.

The whining must stop soon or I'll go insane.

I guess that includes me.

I'm done now.

Thanks for listening.

Have a lovely day.  ;-p

I Almost Forgot

I almost forgot this little video of HT "helping" his Grandma roll out some dough for carmel cinnamon rolls last year while we were there.  You can hear his Papa in the background encouraging him to be naughty.

Flashback

I've been wanting to do a post about our vacation last July to MN to visit my in-laws but have been struggling to remember everything, don't know if I am just getting forgetful or if it's the result of "mommy brain".  I was six months pregnant at the time and miserable.  What I do remember is that it was a wonderful respite from the heat here at home. To be at the lake, with cool morning breezes, afternoon naps in the hammock, pleasantly warm evenings, dragonflies dancing above the water, and where the temperature never reached above 80 degrees the whole time we were there, was a delight.  As a result this post is going to be long on pictures and short on words.  Besides if I plan on getting this here blog printed at some point I want the pictures, so here goes.

Grandpa built HT a sand box down at the shore and he played in it every day we were there.

Loved playing on the tractor and riding on the bobcat.

Went on the boat most evenings.  We enjoyed the boat very much and if you asked HT  if he wanted to go for a ride on Grandpa's boat, he was quick to correct you and tell you it was a "pontoon boat". 

"Why's dat bug on your finger Grandpa?"

The dragonflies were all over the place, which meant that the mosquitos were kept in check, dragonflies love mosquitos.  I have also read that they are a sign of a clean water source.  I was delighted and surprised that this one posed for a picture.

Aunt Pam and HT went fishing off the dock and he caught his first fish, wasn't sure what to do with it and was more concerned about the worm.

On July 4th my in-laws hosted a family party at their house so we got to see lots of family that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Chris, Nicole and little Grace.

Aunt Pam and Uncle Steve

Aunt Jody and Uncle Jim

Uncle Len, cousins Dean and Mark

Grandpa (or should I say the Hunchback of Dilworth Presbyterian) and HT ringing the church bell.

HT telling Great Grandpa Thorson about his trains.

The view just east of my in-laws place.  Beautiful!

I probably could have and should have broken this up into more than one post, but it's too late now.  If MN weren't soooo cold in the winter, I might consider moving there.

Picture Day

I took the boys in to Kiddie Kandids to have their portraits done the other day and they did a super job.  Got a lot of good photos even though EM was tired (refused his morning nap) and HT was hyper.  I'm just glad there weren't any tears and I felt sorry for the mom with her kids there before us.  Her little guy wouldn't stop crying.   It reminded me of how blessed I am to have two such good natured boys.  These are the first professional portraits we have had taken of EM and the last time I took HT in to get pictures was nearly two years ago.  Besides EM turned nine months old on the sixth so it was a good excuse to go.

They captured the boys personalities well.  HT outgoing and gregarious.  EM shy and reserved.

I had fun playing with the pictures to make a new blog header.  (Just in case you are wondering I bought the picture CD and the rights to the pictures.)

Happy Birthday America!

I baked you a cake.  It's not as pretty as Ina Garten's but I'm sure just as delicious.  We feel blessed to be living here, even though we complain about it sometimes, we really do live in the best place in the world, at least I think so.

We celebrated on Friday and met up with friends at our Associate Pastor's house for a wiener roast and a good time was had by all.  HT was having to much fun to eat much supper, only managed to eat part of his hot dog and one bite of his salad.  On the way home after the fireworks he asked "Mama where's my snack?"  Then he started to ask for a drink but was asleep before I could answer or he could finish the question.  This is the first year he has watched the fireworks.

Loved rolling the balls down the slide.

EM with Pastor Mike.

This Mickey Mouse was in a neighbors yard.

We walked about half a block from their house to a church parking lot and had a good view of the fireworks without all the crowds or the traffic.  It was a lovely night.  Someone gave all the kids a glow stick and man did they have fun.

Speaking of celebrations, I have been giddy with excitement all weekend, because I entered a picture of my Grandmother in Pioneer Woman's Americana Photo contest and it is a finalist.  You can also see the photo here.  It's a vintage photo that I scanned taken sometime in the 1940's (I think), one of her working on a quilt at her kitchen table.

Happy 4th everyone!