early mornings + coffee
theology lover + long walks
introvert + dreamer
amazing conversationalist + quiet observer
book collector + organizer
patient + kind
adoring father + loving husband
world traveler + adventurous spirit
NPR + The Office
generous + thoughtful
goofy + sarcastic
Christ follower + seeker of truth
road trips + mix cds
passionate + gifted listener
the love of my life
Happy Birthday, Erik! I love you!
xo
{Self-portrait by Miss Audrey Mae- late April 2009- 3 1/2 years old}
A recent conversation overheard between my sweet girl and her daddy (comments inside parenthesis mine).
Audrey: "Daddy, will you come dance with me?"
Erik: "How about in a little while? I am really tired right now." (he had just gotten home from work)
Audrey: "But Daddy! I need a prince to dance with, and you're a prince!" (melt my heart)
Erik: "Okay, (he told me his heart was melting too!), let's go dance!"
Audrey: "Turn on Frank." (as in Frank Sinatra)
I love that she loves dancing with her daddy. And how cute is it that she loves dancing to "Frank"? I have a feeling someday they will be dancing to him together when she gets married. Love that.
P.S. Thank you so much for all the thoughtful comments about our new home and how God has blessed us. I promise to share more before and after pictures once we get settled!
For today's grateful post, I am going to post a little something from my archives. I just came across this post that I wrote on my last anniversary (6.24.08) that I completely forgot to publish! It definitely deserves to be officially posted, so here it is: Today (and every day!) I am so very grateful for my marriage to Erik. I am so blessed to have him not only as a best friend, but as a husband. I love you, Erik!
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I feel so blessed to have been able to spend the past eight years (well, actually 11, if you count the three years we dated...) being loved by and loving this great man. You see, eight years ago today, I became a Mrs. I cannot believe that it has been eight years! Eight years ago today I woke up in the morning feeling giddy and happy and excited and content, as every girl should feel on her wedding day. Looking back, 21 seems so very young to be getting married, to be making such a life-impacting decision, but we had peace that it was time and have never regreted it for an instant. That crazy, tan, soccer-playing lifeguard who loved surfing and Bob Marley, swept me off my feet at 17 when I met him at Malibu, and there was no looking back. I seriously never looked at another guy the same way after I met Erik; he had my heart forever from that moment on, as completely cheesy as it sounds.
And now here we are today- two kids and one mini-van later- still madly in love with each other, still best of friends, still each other's biggest fans. Marriage is not easy; every marriage has it's rough days, rough seasons. But I firmly believe that what it all comes down to is a choice. A choice to keep loving, keep trying, keep putting each other first, no matter what.
Eight years later, there is no doubt in my mind that I would choose Erik all over again.
{written on 6.24.08}
P.S. This photo of Erik with Audrey and Elliot was taken this last summer on our trip to Glacier National Park. Erik reminded me tonight that I never posted any of our pictures from that trip- maybe someday...
{photo via a picture is worth a thousand words}
I am feeling so sad about falling off the blogging every day in November bandwagon, aka. NaBloPoMo. But this week since my trip has just honestly been very busy and tiring- sick kids (who unfortunately have moved on to a new cold...), sick me, oh, and of course my big birthday yesterday! Which, by the way, thank you so very much for all of the happy birthday wishes!
So, rather than beat myself up about being dreadfully behind on the 30 days of gratefulness thing, I am just going to play a quick little catch-up here and call it good (minus the birthday post, which hopefully will be coming tomorrow...)
Here are a few things that me and my dear little family have been grateful for this last week (November 17-21 +23):
Me: home, library story time with the kids, taking a Sunday afternoon nap with Audrey, new cell phones that only cost us one cent each!, my mama + stepdad are coming for Thanksgiving, the adorable things Audrey Mae has been saying lately, going to bed early, this year's Live From the Moutain Music Lounge cd, spending time with family, good talks with good friends, God and His goodness, my cozy bed + the best pillow ever, reading books, going to bed with a clean kitchen, and hot chocolate with extra marshmellows for desert.
Erik: "my wife and our date together"
Audrey: "my new Christmas dress, going to Auntie Amy's house, coloring, my swimsuit, mama's bread, pasta, and heavy baby." (these were given to me over several days, not all at once!)
Elliot: having mama home, Burt's Bees diaper ointment, applesauce, popsicles, sleeping with his new pillow (you can tell that he feels super cool with it in his crib!), bananas, playing chase with Audrey, grandma + grandpa, and reading stories together.
What are you grateful for today?
{me- circa. 1981, just after my little sister was born}
Me: Cuddling with my sweet girl tonight before she fell asleep, watching Survior with my mama-in-law, taking the kids to the library, Elliot having the best eating day ever, homemade macaroni + cheese, the kids taking super long naps today at the same time (always a miracle), this post (thanks mama!), getting Erik's home from work welcome from the kids on video, this reassuring and encouraging post, and showering before noon.
Erik: He is sound asleep in bed, but I am pretty sure he would say "peanut butter + chocolate ice-cream"
Audrey: "Picking up blocks + taking out the garbage with daddy". Now I know it totally sounds like we are on top of the kids' chores around here, but really we're not! She likes picking up the blocks because we sing while we do it and because Mister Elliot is in love with it so it is a little bit of a competition thing. She loves taking out the garbage with daddy because it involves a long walk down the driveway outside with her favorite guy in the whole world.
Elliot: Playing monster and being tickled, and eating- I still can't get over how much he ate today! Both of my kids are pretty picky eaters, so a good food day always makes me super happy and very relieved!
What are you grateful for today?
P.S. I know I said I was going to try to keep this up every day this month, but I kind of forgot about my little trip this weekend. So...I am not sure what the next few days are going to look like around here. I was going to try to write some stuff ahead of time to program to post while I was gone, but really I don't know how on top of it I am going to be tomorrow, what with all the packing and organizing I need to do. Whatever the case, I will for sure be back here Monday, with updates + lots of gratefuls from my happy weekend away!
{Are you getting tired of photos from our little autumn photo shoot yet? I love so many of them, it is hard not to post them!}
Me: (keeping it short + simple today) My little family. I definitely have long, hard days when this being a stay-at-home mama thing is tough, tough, tough. But I wouldn't trade it for the world. I am so in love with my sweet kids. And goodness gracious, I am madly in love with their amazing daddy. I am so blessed, and I try my hardest to not take a single moment of this lovely life for granted.
Erik: Going to bed at 10:00pm and "Talk of the Nation" on NPR
Audrey: I am totally kicking myself, but I cannot for the life of me remember what she told me besides "coloring". I know it was coloring and something else...I will have to ask in her the morning. She will probably remember!
Elliot: Riding on our rocking horse. It was mine when I was a kid, made by my Grandpa Bear, and Audrey and Elliot love it. Although, Audrey refuses to let it sleep in their room at night...Anyway, Elliot has been really into riding on it lately and I have been quite surprised at how fast he goes. I am kind of afraid he will go flying off of it one of these days!
What are you grateful for today?
{photo via a picture is worth a thousand words}
Me: A super yummy super easy dinner recipe from my mother-in-law (will post with the bread recipe tomorrow!), a fun play day with cousins and auntie Amy- having them here all day definitely made the day go by so much faster, the kids are in bed sound asleep, reading about this sweet friend's happy news, and for two very special veterans in my life- my father-in-law Doug + my cousin Kyle.
Erik: "The kids being in bed when I get home. Is that too mean?" (I don't think so!)
Audrey: "Playing with Parker! I love to play with him and just be with him!" I think my girl has a little cousin crush!
Elliot: Playing with cousins, having Grandpa home all day, footie jammies with cars + trucks on them, and ripping mama and daddy's books off of the big bookshelf.
What are you grateful for today?
P.S. Please forgive me for being such an awful blog commenter lately! The rest of this week is going to be pretty crazy as I get ready for my big trip, but hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things next week.
I know this seems like a totally random photo, but I guess that is what I love about it. It was taken on the same day as this one. I love that it makes me think about that lovely little afternoon- driving around in our car after church, trying to get the kids to take naps before we headed to the park to take pictures and play in the leaves. We stopped for coffee and lunch, driving through drive-thru's to keep the kids asleep. Once we got to the park, it was much harder to get the beautiful shots we were hoping for than we expected- it was cold and the kids just wanted to run around, not sit still for the camera. But we got some of my favorite shots of the year, even though it felt chaotic and impossible at the time. I love all the different colors in this picture and how you can see Elliot trying to run away. I love the little glimpse of my beautiful wedding + engagement rings, my stripey socks and my teacher shoes (practical Birkenstock gardening clogs left over from being a preschool teacher). I love how Audrey won't let go of her big leaf. Yes, it is a random photo, but it reminds me of how very blessed I am to be living this sweet little life.
Today we are grateful for...
Andi: For my sweet step-Grandma Pat, church this morning (the whole service was all about prayer and it was just so encouraging and challenging and beautiful...), yummy homemade chicken pot-pie + chocolate-chip cookies (it was totally a comfort food type of day), and most of all for my darling husband who is seriously the best husband ever. I am embarassed to admit this, but he seriously gets up with the kids almost every morning and lets me sleep in "just five more minutes" (that more often than not turns into 10-60 more minutes...). He is so great and I love him so much!
Erik: I completely forgot to ask him what he is grateful for before he headed to bed...but I think one thing he might say he is grateful for is that we actually made it on time for church this morning! We are nearly always late- please tell me we are not the only family that struggles with this...
Audrey: "Going to Parker's house and candy camping" (Okay, so cutest thing ever: she keeps calling "trick or treating"- "candy camping" and I have no idea why! But it makes me smile every time she does it).
Elliot: Playing chase and "boo" with Daddy, reading books before bed, brushing his teeth (when he does it himself- he pretty much hates it when I do it), and drinking milk with a straw.
What are you grateful for today?
{photo via Flickr}
Me: A lovely early lunch at my favorite coffee shop, all alone with my Bible + journal + a good book (really really needed that after my long week- thank you sweet husband!), my little Elliot feeling so much better today, our summer sand/water table transitioning into being an awesome indoor sensory table for Audrey and Elliot (we currently have it filled with dried pasta and they love it!), making chocolate chip cookies with Audrey, my favorite daily devotional (this month we're studying Psalms and it has been amazing so far), having dinner and spending the evening with dear friends and their families, and this class that I am really excited to start this week!
Erik: "Saturday and Sunday"
Audrey: "Playing barbies"
Elliot: Playing with pasta in the sensory table (we caught him trying to hide fistfulls of pasta under the couch!), running around the house as fast as he can, the transportation themed Baby Einstein video, and chocolate milk.
What are you grateful for today?
