When You Are Truly Loved

Yesterday started out gloomy. I have no idea why...just a Charlie Brown sort of day I guess. I had plans to watch my friend Nicole's 4 kids for her birthday while she spent the day doing special girlie things with another friend. I was looking forward to it, as I always do. Little did I know that they would turn my whole day around in a out 30 seconds.

As the girls walked in the house, I heard them whispering and conspiring with my boys. In walked Nicole behind them, with this cake:


You might be wondering why one woman would make a Holly Hobbie cake for another woman. Well, there's a story here. Sometime over the past couple of years I mentioned to her daughters that I had a Holly Hobbie room when I was a little girl, and that my 3rd birthday cake was a Holly Hobbie cake, made for me by my aunt. When Nicole came across this cake pan, her girls remembered and they conspired to make me this cake for my birthday (which isn't until tomorrow). Suffice it to say, I cried when I saw it.

On this journey called life, its not uncommon to meet a lot of interesting people, and amass a large group of friends. What is a rare treat is to have a friend who knows you so intimately - yet somehow I feel like I've ended up with more than my fair share of such friends. I was so touched by this simple, personal gift and the fact that three little girls would remember such an insignificant detail about my life. It is times like that when you know you are truly loved.

Of course, every birthday cake calls for a birthday party, right?

Just another excuse to extend the celebration of my favorite day!

Even Husband Gets the Blahs Sometimes

This past weekend was really good for us in that we had no plans. Zero. That happens almost never. The boys were invited to have a sleepover at their friends' house, so that left Husband and I with a nice quiet night to ourselves, which we ended up sharing with Joe and Lori at the bar in their basement, enjoying some good conversation and laughs without the constant interruptions we are typically used to.

Husband was nice enough to take on the task of painting our upstairs hallway, which we've been putting off for at least three years - and with good reason. Poor guy, there is so much edging and trim work involved that he worked all day Saturday and never even got to pull out the roller. I have to commend his patience though, as he let Kirby and Connor "help" him paint. Armed each with a paintbrush and a Home Depot apron (thanks Uncle Nick!), they were turned loose on their own walls. I sat in my office with the door shut just listening to the dialogue and alternately cracking up and admiring Stephen's patience as the boys plied him with questions. Not surprisingly, Connor never ran out of things to talk about and I don't think his mouth shut during the entire project. The boys each painted their walls and it ended up looking like this:




While it was nice to not have any plans, Husband and I found ourselves feeling a bit blah by Sunday night and the boys were wired! (why does it always work like that?). My eyes hurt from spending about 16 hours in front of the computer over two days, and his nerves were a bit raw from dealing with the boys and the painting project. A highlight for both of us was giving the boys a little scare on Saturday afternoon:




I know, it's a little sick, but I just love scaring people (I hate to be scared!). It's always nice to have a willing accomplice (Husband filmed).

The worst part of the whole weekend was that we got off by a day somehow and thought Saturday was the 6th and Sunday was the 7th. Why is that bad? Because my mother-in-law's birthday is on February 7th. It's bad enough that we are late sending cards for all occasions, and we knew she wouldn't get her cards until a few days after the fact, but then we got off by a day! Thankfully, I think we have the whole unconditional love thing going with her...that and she knows how flaky I can be and still loves me! So - here's a shout out to Jane...HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I couldn't have asked for a better mother-in-law!

Photos!

The reasons that I started blogging are many, but two of the reasons are: a. it's a great way for me to record the happenings of our family (since I've been terrible at doing photo albums, scrapbooks, or baby books), and b. it's a way for me to post photos for our family who lives far away. It's been awhile since I've posted any pictures and we've been busy doing a lot of fun things. That being said, here are some photos of recent happenings...(hope you have time, there are a lot!)...

Connor and Daddy show off his 19 3/4" trout - what a catch!

Connor was a little scared of his fish.

Kirby didn't catch anything, but Dad says he was a real fisherman, never leaving his post.

Our boys take a paddle boat ride with our good friends, the Siegfrieds. Yes, I actually
allowed my kids to go out in the middle of a lake sans adults! Thank goodness for Regan, the oldest!

Our whole family at Ollie's baptism

The boys got their faces painted at Stephen's company picnic - at the zoo.

Connor shows off his new wheels on his 3rd birthday - check out the hair!

Nanna took the boys to the zoo on Connor's birthday.

Baby Ollie gets ready to party!

The boys with their cousin, Jadon. The cake was one of my more "rustic" attempts.

Connor plays us a tune on his new guitar, while his Uncle Joe looks on (lookin' good Joe!)