13 Years

In my nearly three years of blogging, I have not once done an anniversary post. To make up for lost time, and in honor of 13 years of marriage, here are 13 memorable moments of married life.

1. Our wedding day. This is the obvious first answer, but after one-and-a-half years of dating and another one-and-a-half years of being engaged, it honestly felt like the day would never.ever.arrive.


2. Our first year of marriage, which included my husband's first full-time job, his first year of evening master's classes, my first year of teaching, my first coaching job, and the purchase of our first house. I'm not sure we spent much quality time together that year.


3. My husband helping me by grading papers and cooking every meal that entire first year. I vote we go back to that arrangement.


4. The ups and downs and growing pains of infertility.


5. Lazy movie and popcorn nights. Still one of my favorites!
6. Our vacation to Branson in 2002 - our last kidless trip. :)


7. The birth of our oldest son. No parent ever forgets the nervousness, excitement, pain, and joy of waiting to see their baby for the first time.


8. Building our house.


9. The birth of our youngest son. No adoptive parent ever forgets the nervousness, excitement, pain, and joy of waiting to walk into someone else's hospital room to meet their baby for the first time.


10. The court adoption finalization of our youngest son.
11. Camping, tubing, jet skiing, and everything else that comes along with it!


12. Our trip to England. I hate plane rides, but love every other part of traveling!
13. The joys and trials of each day that goes by - and waiting to see what the future holds!

Ridin' In Style

"Hey Daddy, come look! I have a sports car!!"

Summer

School let out one week ago, we've made a trip to Illinois for a graduation, and we are attempting to settle into a summer routine.

In the 2 1/2 brief days we've had at home, I can already tell I like the ages of 7 and 4 much better than last year's 6 and 3. Sure, the boys fight and disagree, but they also create games, play together, and go outside for great lengths of time.

Someone may need to remind me of this happiness in a few short weeks, but for now, I'm going to bask in the bliss of them being somewhat civil to each other.

The summer agenda for the kids looks good: swimming lessons, baseball, Bible school, harvest, piano lessons, library programs, afternoons at the pool, playing with friends, camping, jobs for mom (yahoo!), and vacation.

The summer agenda for me looks pretty good as well: all of the above, plus time to organize and clean, hit the scrapbooks, read some good books, and prep for next school year.

There are a few upcoming events, however, that I am not looking so forward to. Next month I turn 35. 'Nough said.

My 35th birthday combined with a family history of breast cancer equals the not-so-fun event #2.

Event #3 will be, at the very least, follow-up blood work, or at the most, a repeat CT scan to see what is going on inside me since last summer. My very generous father passed along the gene for liver and kidney cysts. Fortunately, his have never bothered him, so I'm praying for the same result. Unfortunately, some kind of check-up will be an annual summertime occurrence.

On the bright side, my list of things I'm looking forward to is still much longer than the not-so-fun happenings. Until that flips the other way, I can't complain!

Well, maybe I'll complain just a little........I am turning 35.

Our Weekend

This weekend was packed with food, fun, and friends.

And pictures? Not so much. I am realizing that the older my kids get, the fewer pictures I take. I think my brain is subconsciously telling my camera-clicking finger 'No more! She's already two years behind on her scrapbooks!'

But I did manage to get a few shots.

FRIDAY MORNING- Parade Day!

Because every mother needs a picture of her kids and their friends with the Cox Communications alien-looking.....thing. What, you don't all have one?

My son loves this girl. They are quite a pair! I am o.k. with this, because honestly, the girls are always going to be two feet taller than him, even if he would stick to his own age.

And my other son, who obviously couldn't be outdone by his younger brother. He apparently prefers the younger chicks -- probably thinks he can boss them around. Watch out son, I hear redheads are trouble! Good thing we know this sweet little gal.

The parade also had lots of great floats, bands, and cars. You just wouldn't know it from my camera.


FRIDAY NIGHT -- Dinner with friends!

No pictures, but I think my stomach is still recovering from all the laughing.


SATURDAY MORNING - The Zoo!

My husband's company picnic was at the zoo today. I packed the camera, I really did, it just never saw the light of day.

Here's the rundown.

We saw monkeys.
We saw reptiles.
We saw camels.
We played Bingo. (Picnic tradition!)
We ate lunch.
We saw giraffes.
We saw rhinos.
We saw kangaroos.
We saw bears.
We heard lions fighting.
We missed it.
We saw lions.
We went through the museum.

We came home.

Two minutes after we walked through the door....

Guess who made dinner?

Goin Fishin

It's official.

There are only two things in the world that will cause my son to sit still for long periods of time.

TV.

And this.

He LOVES it.

He doesn't even have to catch anything.

He just sits and sits.

I love it.

He doesn't even have to catch anything.

He just SITS and SITS!

Camping Experiments

For the most part, last weekend was a pretty typical hanging out at the lake with friends weekend. But, as I looked through my pictures, I realized what strange (and therefore hilarious) things we attempted.

Experiment #1: We had a minor major complete freak out moment involving ants crawling all over a person who will remain nameless. After closer inspection, she found massive ant colonies climbing up and down the pole she was leaning against, and immediately asked if I had any cinnamon.

Cinnamon?

Apparently ants will not cross cinnamon.

So we tried it.

Who knew? It worked!


Experiment #2: This very odd suggestion came from a man in the group - Mr. Will Remain Nameless. Grilled banana anyone?

Not your thing? How about if we add some chocolate?


Mr. Will Remain Nameless gave it a half-hearted thumbs up. Mr. Blog-writer's Husband gave it an emphatic thumbs down. The wives ran away screaming when asked if they wanted some.

Experiment #3: How many people can you fit in a hammock?

Two isn't so bad.


Four? Not so much.


Two adults isn't perfect, but not terrible. As long as you reeeaaallllyyy like the other person.

Experiment #4: Catching fish with a dip net.

This is somewhat of a struggle, but possible, if you are an adult male. It is as easy as walking and breathing if you are this amazing girl.

Experiment #5 - Cooking Chicken 'n Dumplings over the Campfire.

Ms. Will Remain Nameless caught much grief from me as she was slaving over her cast-iron-dutch-oven-over-a-campfire while I was sitting in my lawnchair watching my husband grill our food.

There was no shortage of Little House on the Prairie 'Half Pint' jokes flying around.

But I have to admit....YUMMO!!

Experiment #6: What do you do on the boat when the little tykes start to get restless?

Impersonations!

I am dying to know if anyone can guess who he is trying to be at this moment.

Here is a clue - the adults knew right away who he was, but the kids did not have a clue.

It was awesome!

Stretching My Panic Limits

Last night my husband was mowing the lawn when his pager went off. I saw him fly out of the driveway in his truck. Pretty soon the phone rang.

It was my husband.

"Could you go turn off the lawnmower?"

"Huh? Okay."

Who jumps off the lawnmower and leaves it running? Later I found out he had just walked to the garage and then the call came in. At least he's not crazy.

Twenty minutes later the phone rang again.

"I'm still on the call."

"Okay."

"It is at the interstate exit right by our house."

"Okay."

"Lock all the doors."

"WHAT???"

"You need to keep the kids inside and lock all the doors for safety purposes. And be on the lookout for four men on foot. Call me right away if you see anyone."

"NOT OKAY!!!"