What a Week...

Happy (Late) Halloween everyone! We had a week packed full of daycare parties, church hayrides and of course Michael Dean as a cow. It really was a fun week.

MD's daycare was celebrating their 5th year in operation as well as Halloween/Fall. So, each day had a "theme". Since MD doesn't go on Mondays he was able to participate in the last 4 days - "Favorite Team" day, "Mismatch" day, "Country Bumpkin" day and "Orange Everywhere" day. Here's photos from the 1st 3 days:


On Friday (Halloween) his daycare had a festival in the morning, which Donnie and I went to with Michael Dean. Then his class had an all-you-can-eat-sweets party in the afternoon that my mom and I attended! It truly was amazing to see my little guy sitting at a tiny table with all of his tiny friends eating their cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies. When Nana and I got there, MD just sat in his little chair enjoying his treats. He didn't try to get up - or cry - or anything. A pretty proud moment for mom. (Oh, and the 4th shot below is what MD thought of the bouncy tent!)







After MD's little daycare party, I took him home and got him suited up in his (handmade!) cow costume. Oh my gosh - how cute he was! He loved his cowbell but hated his cow ears. We managed to snap a few shots with the hat on, but that was about it. Now, that night at our church's Trunk 'n Treat he kept it on - only because he had a constant supply of Dum-Dum suckers in both hands. That is how he helped me hand out candy - by goobering up all the unwrapped suckers! It really was cool, though. He sat/stood in the back of my Escape as I handed out candy and was perfectly happy the whole time.

31 Things That Make Me Happy

Seems the "cool" thing to do nowadays is to put some sort of list on your blog. I've had a lot of friends turn 30 lately and they're all making these "30" lists. Well, since I just turned 31, I thought I'd make a "31" list, in no particular order:

1. Everything about my sweet baby boy
2. My wonderfully caring husband
3. My family (in their non-crazy moments!)
4. Merissa
5. Mila, when she's not poo-ed in the house
6. Not having to dye my hair to get my strawberry-blonde color
7. A really great song that takes me away for a few minutes
8. Finding a good sale on something I need
9. Finding a good coupon for something I need, especially diapers
10. My camera
11. Cherry Chapstick
12. Long-length pants
13. Cheap shoes
14. Finding a bathroom when I really need one
15. My home
16. When my son lets me sleep in to 7:30
17. When Donnie gets paid from a closing
18. The smell of Cool Water on Donnie
19. Chocolate chip, peanut butter pancakes with butter-flavored syrup
20. My car
21. Hearing Donnie pray with MD in the mornings, on the baby monitor
22. 5:15pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays
23. Lunch with a really great friend
24. French fries
25. Praise & Worship music
26. Going to a wedding
27. Great memories of my dad
28. When Donnie makes dinner
29. Organization
30. Staying at home on a Friday night
31. Chocolate eclairs

OK, now what makes you happy?

I Made It

My Chicago trip went well. No major issues. My flights were on time - well, they were 70-80% on time, which is what the airline guarantees. Crazy. I picked up and returned my rental car just fine - well, except for getting on the wrong interstate in Chicago and having to do an illegal u-turn on a one-way street. The meetings went well - well, except for the hour-long presentation about how most of my web pages have illegal HTML on them and I need to change them all. Oh well, they look good.

All-in-all, it was fine. Of course, I would have rather been home with my family those 2 days. But, really, it was only 2 days. And I got a couple free meals out of the deal.

And, Donnie's Atlanta trip went well. He and the other pastors didn't get into too much trouble and they all came back in one piece. So, it was a success.

It's good to be home, with my sweet family...

What We've Been Up To Lately...

...besides adjusting to daycare and trying to sing in the rain!

A few weeks back my mom and I took Michael Dean to my very preggers friend, Sarah's, baby shower. This is before. The after was just MD napping in his bed. Too much cake and cheese danish.

(No Photo Available)
See, this past Friday night we had the rare pleasure of getting together with some friends from my good 'ole Hickory Grove days for dinner - Erin, Sophie & Luke (Nathan was playing golf); Cindy, Heth & Abby; Missy (the 1st MD); Sean, Marianne & Conner; and us. We met at the Carolina Place food court (yah, that was a 1st) in hopes that all the kiddos could handle it. Well, they all did - except for MD. That's why I have no photo. He was on the brink of this nasty cold that daycare gave him, so he was grumpy. And, I didn't have time to pull out my camera. It was really great, though, to see everyone! Love you all...and sorry about my kid :)

This past Saturday we went to our friends, Brandon and April's, wedding. It was probably the most well-coordinated wedding I've been to in a while. All of the music was Christian and April chose the song "Agnus Dei" to walk in to. The doors opened just as the chorus got loud at "Holy, holy are you Lord God almighty. Worthy is the lamb..." Breathtaking.

My other very preggers friend, Bethany, at the wedding reception with her husband Matt - who was in the wedding. Baby Jake's due any day now!

Our first picture of just the 2 of us in a while - at the wedding reception! I love you Donnie. Being at a wedding with you makes me want to do it all over again. Well, at least the reception and honeymoon. Not all the planning!

Just a little bigger than last year! (Check it out here - 1st pic)

Michael Dean got this tent at his cousin, Holden's, birthday party back in March. Well, he's finally able to enjoy it! But, Mila enjoys it too - if not even more than MD. "Stay out, Mila!"

It really is hard to get a non-motion picture around the tent. So, this one's rare. It's not blurry.

** And, my best friend turned 30 today!! Happy Birthday, Merissa **

Oh, and I have to go to Chicago this Thursday and Friday for work :( I'm not looking forward to flying away from MD & Donnie - but I have to do it. See, this is an annual meeting of all the Bosch Rexroth web editors and last year they all came to me, in Charlotte, since I was like 10 months pregnant and couldn't fly. OK, only 9 months pregnant. So, I'm off early early Thursday morning and back Friday evening. Please pray for my safety :)

And...Donnie's traveling as well. He's driving to Atlanta Wed, Thurs and Fri with the other pastors of our church (well, not Brandon since he just got married!) I've not mentioned this before because it was only official Oct. 1. Donnie has accepted a part-time position with our church, Rocky River Community, as a Home Groups administrator. We just love our church and feel very blessed that God has opened up this opportunity for Donnie. Anyway, please pray for his safety as well. We'll both miss MD so very much...

Inspiration

A sweet friend of mine sent me an email forward. Something about time for God. Honestly, I didn't read the email. Sorry Tina, and God - I think. But a quote, buried deep within the email forwards, caught my attention:

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass...It's about learning how to dance in the rain."

I just love it. I love rain. And I love to be in it, only if my hair's not freshly washed of course. But, man how I desire to enjoy "dancing in the rain." Sometimes, OK most of the time, that's really hard to do. But it would make life so much easier if I just could. Maybe someday.