Father's Day 2013

Ian trying to "fill" daddy's shoes

Suzie "helping" daddy wash the family minivan

Adella getting some sweet morning loves from daddy

Yesterday we celebrated our 7 year anniversary and Father's Day.  It was a good day.  I am so thankful for the way Dave loves our children.  It is tender and sweet.  He strives to do what will be best for them each day.  The sacrifices he makes on their behalf may never be recognized by them, but they will always feel the effects of them (i.e. waking up and leaving for work early so he can always be home for dinner, bath and bedtime).  He loves Suzette, Ian and Adella in such a deep, full and complete way it's hard to describe in words.  Oh how I love how he loves them!

Ian has channeled his inner Linus lately by carrying his blanket everywhere

Suzie takes after Dave in many (okay, almost all) of her physical traits.  The one I'm the most thrilled about is her curly hair!  I've ALWAYS wanted a daughter with curly hair.

Ian and Suzie with daddy before church...

and Adella with daddy after church.  Due to nap schedules we didn't get photo with all three.

Dave, we love you!  Thank you for being the amazing father you are.

The Seven Year Non-Itch

Seven years later...

and we're still having a swinging good time!

"Marriage is the most trusting step in any human relationship.  It's a real act of faith.  The very nature of the endeavor requires that you hold on to each other as tightly as you can and jump."

-Jeffery R. Holland

In the past seven years Dave and I have moved cross country, sold 2 homes and bought 2 homes, lived with family (twice!), worked towards furthering our education, transitioned in and out of different career paths, battled infertility for 4 years, served in some amazing callings working with the youth of the church, traveled internationally, had sweet and sacred experiences in the temple together, made amazing friendships and experienced the indescribable joy that comes with (finally) becoming parents.

We have loved more deeply, laughed harder and lived fuller lives than I thought could be possible on this day seven years ago.  There has been good and bad.  Ugly and sad.  Easy and hard.

We certainly did jump into this life together, not knowing all that would come.  With the trials and triumphs we've experienced along the way we have held onto each other a little bit tighter each time.

We love each other in every sense of the word and I'm beyond excited to continue to hold on tightly as we jump into our next adventures.

Here's to 7 going on 70!

(It's an eternal marriage so wether we're alive or not the 70th anniversary will be reached, right?!)

Memorial Day 2013

On Saturday, May 25th my parents came to visit.  It was a celebration of 5 different things wrapped up into one day - my mom's birthday (May 3rd), Mother's Day, my dad's birthday (May 28th), Father's Day and .... drum roll, please.... my dad's retirement!!!  There was so much celebrating going on we didn't even get a single picture of all of us together.  Bummer.  

My parent's got a combined Mother's Day/ Father's Day gift from Suzie, Ian & Adella.  It was a tree with the twins handprints as the leaves and Adella's toe prints as the grass and at the bottom it read, 'Our Greatest Blessings Call Us Lela & Grandpop.'  I wish I would have taken a picture of it.  We framed it and it turned out super cute.  Those hands and toes aren't going to stay that small forever so it's fun to have a record of how they are now.  My mom's birthday gift was an awesome family tree pendant from a shop I found on Etsy.  It is a wire circle with wire wrapped around in the middle to make a tree with branches that have all the birthstones of our family - kids, spouses, grandkids and all!  She loved it.  I was thrilled because it's not super easy to find a meaningful gift that she'll use/want these days.  For my dad's birthday/retirement I made scrumptious Dr. Pepper spicy pulled pork sandwiches with lime poppyseed fruit salad and broccoli salad.  It was the perfect Memorial weekend menu AND my dad savored every bite of that pulled pork.  It's one of his favorite dishes and I made it with an extra kick of heat just for him.  He called me a few days later to say he was just finishing up the leftovers I sent him home with and declared it to be one of the best pulled pork recipes he's ever had.  Which he was quick to point out was high praise since he has had quite a few in his day.

During their visit my dad got his fill of baby holding while I, my mom, Dave and the twins visited a local ice cream shop in downtown Charles Town.  I love the quaint streets and the mom & pop shops.  It was fun to walk around a bit.  The ice cream did not disappoint and of course, Ian and Suzie loved every lick.  Since Dave was home on Monday we decided to check out a local park.  It was a bit cooler than we thought it'd be so we had to pull out the reserve diaper bag outfits for the twins.  I'm bummed we didn't think to get a photo of all five of us in our red, white & blue outfits before changing the kids.  The slides were a HUGE hit with Suzie!  Ian had fun going down them too, but didn't have as much gusto as Suzie did to keep climbing the stairs and sliding down.

Adella was content to hang out in her stroller and watch the happenings around her.

Happy Girl!

I always love it when we get to have a relaxing day to spend together as a family.  Many times throughout the day my thoughts turned to those in the armed services AND their loved ones who have given so many sacrifices for our country.  One of my friends from high school was a Marine who serves 2 tours and came back with a severe enough case of PTSD that he now has a service dog to help him.  The sacrifices made are truly humbling and I'm grateful for every one of them.  I look forward to teaching our children about this amazing country we live in with all the freedoms and responsibilities that go along with it.

Mother's Day 2013

My Mother's Day celebrations got off to a great start this year.  A lovely tower of treats from Harry & David arrived on my doorstep from my sweet parents.

Fresh off his birthday bike ride Dave treated me to a Mother's Day dinner Saturday evening.  He had arranged babysitting and everything, thanks again John and Dorothy (my in-laws)!  We went to the Yellow Brick Bank Restaurant in Shepherdstown, WV and it was scrumptious - pistachio crusted pork with cinnamon baked apples and whipped rosemary potatoes.  Last time I was there was years ago with my Shepehrd College roommate and her mom.  So fun to go back and see how things have changed and, more than not, mostly stayed the same in Shepherdstown.  

Sunday morning Dave continued on the tradition of a crepe buffet for breakfast.  It was divine.  I think I ate at least six!  I had to try all the different combinations of fillings...twice - strawberries & nutella, bananas & white chocolate peanut butter, lemon juice & sugar.  I really wanted to get a picture of me with all three kiddos, but we were running late (as ususal) before church so we pushed it until we came back home.  Big mistake.  Seriously, you think we'd learn by now.

I walked in the door, kicked off my heels and snapped this selfie of Adella and me.  Ian and Suzie who came in the door after me were fascinated with my heels and had no interest in putting them down to take a picture. 

When attempting to take them away from Suzie this was the result.

The series of photos Dave snapped leave much to be desired, but - and this is a big but - one thing that jumps out at me is the fact my arms are full of children.  My children.  It was just a few years ago that I didn't even know if I'd ever hear the word, "Mommy," from my own child.  How that made my heart ache.  And now I have three!  I think I'll keep them - tongues that stick out, wiggling bodies, tears, screams and all.  This is my life and these are my children.  My cup runneth over!    

For as great as the celebrations started events took a complete 180 by the evening and ended with a call to 9-1-1 and an ambulance in our driveway.  After eating dinner we took the twins out of their highchairs and while Dave and I were cleaning things up Suzie climbed onto one of the regular chairs that was near our kitchen island, leaned over the back of it to reach something on the counter and fell, hard.  It was bad.  She hit the bottom of her chin on the edge of the counter which sent her bottom teeth straight up to he roof of her mouth where they left a big gash.  She was gushing blood from her chin, spitting it out her mouth and, of course, crying uncontrollably.  

All I wanted to do was comfort my sweet girl.  My first thought was to take her to the ER, but it was Adella's bedtime and I needed to nurse her.  At this point we didn't even have formula or pumped breast milk in the house so I HAD to stay with Adella.  With all the blood coming from Suzie there was no way we could safely get her to the hospital so I called 9-1-1.  They arrived in a jiffy and Dave took her out to the ambulance so the paramedics could take a closer look and asses the situation without a crying baby and screaming toddler getting in the way.  Ian stood at the door looking out and screaming Suzie's name the whole time.  It broke my heart...again.  It was determined stitches were needed, but after a quick patch job by the paramedics Dave was able to take her to a nearby urgent care himself.  He ended up getting there 5 minutes before they closed and had to go across the street to the hospital ER anyways.  The cut on her chin turned out to be deeper than first though so it was 5 stitches instead of the estimated 2-3.  

After putting Ian and Adella down to bed I sat out on the porch waiting for them to come back home so I could throw my arms around Suzie.  It was such a horrible feeling to be needed by my children in 2 different ways and places at the same exact time and know I had to choose one over the other.  Dave was so sweet and sent me picture and video messages while they were waiting.  It helped to ease my worries about how she was handling things.  She ended up having the sutures removed 5 days later, but that was too soon and the wound hadn't healed properly yet.  The butterfly bandage the doctor gave us came off the next day so despite our best efforts Suzie now has a decent scar.  At least it's under her chin.

So there you have it.  My second Mother's Day with children started with crepes and ended with an ER visit.  As far as traditions go, I'd like to keep the crepes and loose the injuries.

Dave turns 34

Dave turned 34 on May 7th and luckily had the day off since Adella had a doctors appointment for turning 6 months old the same day.  In all honesty the day of Dave's actual birthday wasn't very eventful - it was spent mostly running errands together.  BUT we did make sure to check out a mom&pop ice cream shop in Sharpsburg, MD called Nutters that we've heard rave reviews about.  With Dave it's not a true celebration until ice cream is involved.  Suzie and Ian joined in on the action with cups of frozen yogurt.

Blurry phone photos

He did luck out to coming home the night before on May 6th to a surprise birthday dinner with his parents and brother, Sam.  His mom, Dorothy, made a cake and brought ice cream over.   

 As you can see the twins were a bit mesmerized by the blinking red light on the timer setting on the camera and Adella decided it'd be the perfect time to start crying.  It's real life here people.  After singing happy birthday it was time to dig in.

 Suzie was kind enough to share some with daddy.

This year my gift to Dave was "letting" him go on a weekend camping/biking trip with his buddies.  Since I was super sleep deprived at the time and I look forward to his help on Saturdays all week long the prospect of taking care of all 3 kids by myself for 2 straight days (and nights) seemed daunting, so in my eyes this was a very generous gift for me to give.  He took Friday, May 10th off work to head up to Cumberland, MD to start of the start of the C&O trail.  The plan was to bike 60 miles the first day, set up camp for the night then bike 60 miles the next day to Harpers Ferry, WV where they'd be picked up and come back home.  That was the plan, but rain in the forecast has a funny way of changing things.  It ended up just being Dave and his friend, Brent - the other one decided biking in the rain wouldn't be all that fun and the distance biked was cut short due to the conditions.  Luckily it ended up not raining until Friday evening so they did get a little rain free ride time.  These guys were determined to make memories out of the experience and I think they definitely did!

Getting ready to start the trail in Cumberland

Brent chillaxin'

About to ride through the Paw-Paw Tunnel 

Happy 34th, babe!

Easter 2013

Easter was the last weekend in March this year, which was odd, but we were so glad the weather was nice.  Saturday morning we dyed eggs with the kids.  Since they're all so young this year we didn't delve too deeply into the meaning of Easter, but in the years to come I really look forward to filling the week leading up to it with some of these Christ centered activities.

Suzie and Ian were intrigued by their hard boiled eggs.  I tried many many times between the time they were 12-15 months old to get them to eat eggs, even preparing them all sorts of ways.  Since eggs are such a great source of protein I really wanted my kids to be egg lovers.  With every attempt they'd clearly express it was a "no go."  Enough time had passed between then and Easter that they'd forgotten about eggs and even took a few bites...then promptly spit them out.  Oh, well.  

Our friends, Steve & Patrice Koller, invited us to their neighborhood for an afternoon Easter egg hunt/potluck.  Adella and I hung out while we watched the hunt unfold.  

It didn't take long for Ian and Suzie to discover there was edible yumminess inside the eggs.  

Ian was so content that after opening his first egg he just sat in the same spot for quite some time.  Silly guy.

Suzie on the other hand was off and running to pick up as many as she could!

Mmmmmmm, that tastes good!

Eventually, Ian got the idea and joined in the hunt to find more eggs.

I gave the twins their Easter baskets Sunday morning with Bible story board books, bubbles, a Cabbage Patch bunny and chick (thanks Aunt Karen!), some egg toys my mother-in-law dropped off and some candy my mom brought by.  During the craziness that was Easter morning I didn't get a picture of the baskets, but I did snap this photo of adorable Suzie with Dave.  She is 100% her father's daughter!

I couldn't resist getting those seersucker pants for Ian since I knew Suzie had a coordinating dress.  It's actually a bit too big for her, but I wanted to try to capture a "twin moment."  Try being the key word.  As you can see, none of these photos turned out very well and we ended up with some rather cranky children even before heading out to the car for church.  

I probably should have sprung for the blazer and belt to complete Ian's outfit, but couldn't bring myself to do it knowing he'd outgrow them so fast.  But the bow tie was a must!  Seriously, is there anything cuter than a little boy in a bow tie?!

This was the dress Suzie actually wore to church since the other was too big.  I was trying to get a bow in her hair before heading out the door to church and by the look on her face you can clearly see that was not going to happen.  That look, by the way, is a classic - Dave and his mother both do it.

My sweet sassy Suzie, I love you so!  For as crazy as I thought things were before church, coming home it was meltdown central and a family photo was not in the cards.  Maybe next year.

At church there was some wonderful musical numbers during sacrament meeting and I'm always grateful to celebrate the amazing knowledge that CHRIST HAS RISEN!!!