Happy Birthday Garran

As we walk this life together,

I pray for our love to be forever.

You give me the strength and support,

Right from the day we began to court.

Life with you is worth every second,

My love on your birthday beautiful memories I reckoned.

Happy Happy Birthday Garran. 

I love you  more than words and I am excited to see what adventures you will take on this year. 

My little Comedian

I can honestly say that my life would not be nearly as funny if I did not have this boy. He thought this was hilarious. 

DIVA

This girl travels in style no matter where she goes. 

Anniversary/Graduation Surprise

This year some friends of mine and I got together and conspired to do something fun for our husbands who were all graduating this May. 

It was a surprise for the boys and fun for us girls.

It was kind of my anniversary gift to Garran as well because we didn't really have a chance to do much on our actual anniversary. 

 Here we are on the way to the surprise!!

 Can you guess where it is??

 That's right...Downtown Chicago. A dinner cruise out on Lake Michigan. 

 I mean, look at this view while we got to sit and enjoy a wonderful meal and good company!

 It was the perfect night. It was nice weather and clear skies. 

 As you can tell, I just kept snapping pictures fo the awesome skyline view. 

 Our group as the boat was heading back into the dock. 

 Garran and I! 

I just love this picture. 

 This one too. 

 When we got off the boat, Navy Pier was all lite up. I thought it looked so pretty. 

 We had the most delicious virgin strawberry daiquiris on the boat. The were so good we were talking about them the next morning. 

 One of my favorites of the night.

Happy Anniversary and Graduation Love!!

You are an amazing man and I love you dearly!!

Oh and I could not forget Phil. 

I promised him I would not put this on facebook, but my blog...Well that is a different story. 

There was a dance competition on the boat and there was a teenage girl that had signed up. The DJ was randomly selecting songs and this girl got "Single Ladies". She was obviously shy and the DJ asked if anyone wanted to go up and be her back up dancer. Of course Phillip jumped at the chance. 

ENJOY!

Random Moments.

I came home the other day to find this. 

Kael...Meditating.. Outside after the rain. 

 Briea often likes to wear my shirts as dresses around the house. 

This time she found something different to wear!!

 And Cullan. He is not doing anything really, except looking huge. I mean, really... How is he this big. How is he turning 8 this year?

I just don't understand how time has gone by so quickly. 

Mother's Day Weekend.

This Mother's Day was bitter sweet. 

Sweet because my in-laws came to visit for the weekend and help us prep the house for the move. 

Bitter because we will be moving farther away from them and other family. 

That part of moving is never easy. 

We got a lot of painting and work done. 

 We took a quick break to snap a picture. I am always forgetting to get in the picture, so this time I had Garran take one. 

 Of course I wanted a picture with Grandma and Grandpa and all the kiddos. 

 We really appreciated all the help Garran's parents gave. We painted and cleaned, hung blinds.. We got a lot done. 

And of course on Mother's day, I wanted a picture with me and my babies. They are all getting so big. Not really babies any more. But oh how I love them all. 

Happy Mother's Day 

to 

my mom, garran's mom, and all the other wonderful moms I know. 

Hope everyone had an amazing Mother's Day!!

Big Kid

Yes. He is a big kid. 

He has been since the day I met him. 

I guess that is why he makes me laugh so much. 

Garran never passes up the opportunity to return one of these carts inside. He always tries to get me to race when we see two of them out. 

As you can see, Ayla LOVED it!!

Oh this Girl!

Oh this girl. 

She is so busy. 

Always into something. 

Always

 investigating, playing, organizing, bossing, 

She is just plain busy. 

She is also inventive. 

The other day, I was doing laundry and she said that she needed to go potty. I felt her diaper and felt what I thought were hard little poops. I said "Let's just go change your diaper" but she refused. She insisted on using the potty. So in frustration, I agreed. I took her in the bathroom to take off her diaper and this is what I found. 

GROSS- I know. 

Ayla discovered a new pocket. 

She did end up going potty on the toilet. 

And in case you are wondering...Those starburst ended up in the trash. 

Special Olympics

On Saturday I had the opportunity to go and volunteer at Special Olympics with the youth from our church. 

 Here they all are before we got started for the day. We were working at the soft ball throw, doing different things. I was in charge of getting them organized to receive their awards.

 Three of our sweet girls!

These two women are the other leaders I work with over the youth. They are great ladies and I will miss them a lot when we move. 

The whole day was just awesome. I really enjoy working with Special Olympics and getting to know the athletes. I really hope that I have the opportunity to do it again sometime. It really was an amazing day!

S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E

Ed and Stacy stopped by for a quick visit as they were passing through on their way to the airport. So we got to have dinner and visit for a little while. It was so fun getting to see them and visit with them. We always enjoy their company. It was the last chance we had to get to see them before we moved so I was so grateful they took the time to stop by and say hi. 

I am sure we will see each other again...It will just be a little bit longer drive. But well worth it!

My Girls

Just because....this picture makes me laugh!

Let's go to the Zoo!

Last week Cullan's class went to the zoo and I went along as a chaperone. 

 It was a cold and a rainy day. But we tried to make it as fun as possible. 

 Here is Cullan hanging out by the giraffes. 

 They were all inside because it was so yucky outside that day. They had a new baby that we were all excited to see. 

 This guy was just reaching up to have a little lunch. 

 Cullan and his new friend smiling for a picture. 

 We hung out with another mom and her group as we went around the zoo. The kids were so good. 

 Here they all are hanging out by the polar bears. 

 Cullan and I hanging out after lunch. Trying to stay warm and dry. 

 Cullan as a peacock. 

 I love all the color on these birds. 

 The kids got to check out this cool shell and touch it. It was pretty interesting. 

 Then they all hoped on this boat to check out a video. 

 Some turtles...just hanging out.

 Cullan with some extra long arms... with some help from his friends. 

 Cullan by a waterfall. You just cant see the waterfall. :O)

 The camels were the last stop...

then on the bus and off they went to head back to school.

It was a really fun day despite the yucky weather. I feel so lucky when i get to go on field trips or do things at school with the kids. I always really enjoye it. 

Spring Sing!!

The boys school put on a concert every year and this year they did it in the spring instead of around Christmas time. 

I was not able to go because Ayla was sick, so Garran took the boys and lots of pictures and videos so I would not miss anything. 

 Here is Kael waiting for the concert to start. 

 All the kindergarteners singing. They did a Lion King theme. 

 Kael really loves to sing. He is always walking around the house singing songs or humming to himself. 

 Then it was the first graders turn. Cullan is towards the end with a plaid shirt on.

 This was both Kindergarten and first grade singing together. 

 I am not sure what they were singing bu tI love how Kael is right up front!

Cullan in the back on the top row. He did an awesome job as well!