Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my amazing husband!   Five years ago today we started the next stage of our journey together.  While the day was such a blur, I was on cloud nine and loved every minute of it. 

Back then we merged our families together into a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom, no garage house.  My two cats with your two dogs.  We separated household duties, with you taking care of the outside and me taking care of the inside, splitting the cooking (and cooking together when possible).  While we did not like the same TV shows, we loved to brew beer together, and often times found ourselves drinking a bottle of wine and talking for hours.

Now we have an amazing family of four, us and our two beautiful daughters.   We traded in the Norwalk house for a slightly bigger house (with more bathrooms) in Waukee (closer to our friends).   We even have a third stall in the garage for you to work on your bikes.   Our household duties still stand, although they seem to have grown with the corner lot and extra little kid clothes.   When we watch TV together (and this is rare), we are watching a Disney movie with the girls.   We still enjoy brewing beer together, and can still talk for hours over a bottle of wine with the music playing in the background.   We love our family time with the girls, and sitting down for dinner at the table each night is a tradition I hope we continue through the years. 

We have faced obsticles through the years (a little water in the basement, the house on fire), but there is no one I would have rather gone through them with than you.   We worked hard to get where we are, and I cherish our life together every day.   I still feel like the luckiest girl on the planet, even five years later.   God has looked out for us and has blessed us with each other, our girls and our life together.

I look forward to many more years, and the fun that is yet to come.   I know there will be challenges along the way, but as long as we have each other we will get through them.

Thanks for a wonderful five years.

to the moon and back...

5 on Friday

1. On Friday Ellie played in the snow.  In May.   She was upset that she didn't have snowpants to wear (because I had packed them away), but that didn't stop her from sledding down the hill in the backyard.    Of course we forgot to take pictures.  At least we have memories. 

2. I have to admit, I secretly love the crappy weather.  It makes studying so much easier, and I do not feel like I am missing out on as much as I put my nose in a book for hours on end.

3. My parents stopped over on Sunday and gave Neve part of her birthday gift (we have not seen them in a long time).   The girls loved playing with the bubble machine outside this week... we have gone through a few containers of bubbles already.
4. Genevieve's transition from the portable bath tub to the big bath tub has been a challenge to say the least.   She would scream bloody murder from the minute she heard the water start to run until she was wrapped in her bath wrap and being rocked in her chair.   Until last week... when after about 8 minutes of screaming she finally decided the water was not the worst thing ever, and even smiled a little.   Now she goes in the bath without a single tear.  Thank goodness!  

5. My baby is officially done with bottles.   When we used up the last of the stored breastmilk we decided that whole milk would be given in a sippy cup (as we did with Ellie).  At first she was a little unsure of the sippy cup and she spit out the milk the first time I gave it to her.  Once she realized that was what she was getting she drank it up.  Now if we could just get rid of the pacifier...  One step at a time and with the teething she has going on right now I am not going to even try.

5 on Friday

1. We had wine and cheese night with friends on Friday night.   It was fun watching the young girls enjoy the 'fancy' cheese.

2. Ellie had a play-date with a few girls from day-care on Saturday morning.   I love watching/listening to the little girls together.   When Neve is not being a Mommy's girl, she gets right in there with the big girls.

3. Sunday we celebrated Nick's Mom's birthday with a lunch out.   We had a great time and enjoyed seeing everyone.

4. The weather.  Need I say more?   Crazy.    We had a wonderful start to the week, and then it turned cold again.  On the bright side, I can already tell what summer is going to be like--- lots of bike rides, walks, time at the park, hanging out with neighbors and grilling out.

5. I helped a friend with a project this past weekend.  I cannot wait to share what it is and how it all turned out.  But that is for another post in a few weeks.

Please Continue Praying

Back in November I made a post, Prayers Requested, about my college roommate and her family.  At the time her little baby boy, Bradley,  was diagnosed with cancer and had started to undergo chemo.   Since then Bradley has continued his chemo, been growing like a weed, and just recently turned 9 months old.   Last Friday Bradley went in for a few routine tests.  Unfortunately the tests came back with sad news, the cancer has reappeared in the area Bradley originally had it, as well as a few other spots (including one on his spine).   The family is meeting with doctors to determine what the best next course of action is for Bradley.  

Having young ones at home, I can only imagine how hard this must be for Elissa, Ed and Bradley.   Elissa and Ed are amazing parents, who love Bradley more than the world.   For such an amazing, sweet, innocent, young baby boy to have to endure something so horrible is really hard for me to comprehend.   Elissa and Ed have such a strong faith, I know God is with them through this and will continue to help guide them through whatever may come.   I have to believe that God has an ultimate plan that we do not know about, and may not ever understand while here on earth.   As someone on Facebook said, "God must have something special planned for this little man."

Ellie and I pray before bed, and although Ellie doesn't put a face to the name, she always remembers to pray for "Mommy's friend Elissa's little baby Bradley who is sick."   I ask that if you pray, please keep Elissa, Ed and Bradley in your thoughts and prayers.  They need it now more than ever.

5 on Friday

1. A couple girlfriends and myself went out to Penoach Winery in Adel on Saturday.   We had a blast trying all the wines, and even enjoying a bottle on the porch.

2. I love our monthly dinner night with friends.  So often we talk about getting together, having this on the calendar makes sure we actually do it.

3. I really enjoy the nice weather.   It was still a little cool a few evenings this week, but it didn't stop Ellie from wanting to go to the park (or from throwing a little fit when it was time to leave the park).

4. Neve is 13 months old!   To think that last year at this time I was enjoying the beautiful weather while home on maternity leave.

5. Nick has been a real help during the past 4 months.  Just over 1 more month and I will have a lot more free time again.  I cannot wait.

5 on Friday

1. Ellie's hearing is back at 100%!

2. It is Superhero week at day-care, as they celebrate the Week of the Young Child.  When I received the note home saying the kids could dress-up as "X" superhero on "W" day I came to the conclusion that they didn't know we have princesses instead of superheros at our house.  We have nothing superhero related.  And Ellie has no clue who Batman is.  More on how I (with the help of a few friends) made it possible for her to participate in the weeks even in a later post.

3. We went to the mall last weekend to get Ellie a pair of summer shoes.   She loves them and wants to wear them all the time.  Of course now we have rain and cold weather, so that is not possible.  Someday Ellie, someday.

4. Neve likes steak.   A lot.  The kid kept asking for more... she was shoveling it in faster than I could cut it in pieces that she could handle.

5. They rezoned the area kiddie-corner from our house for multi-family apartments.   Nick (and the neighbors) tried their hardest to change the outcome (because we would have preferred single-family homes or rowhouses).   I guess the  current house will not be our 'forever house' after all.   On the bright side.   If I find something I don't like about the house, I can plan how I would do it differently next time around.  In the meantime, we will enjoy the time we do have at the house and hope it is many, many years down the road when they put up the apartments (5-10 years would be ideal).

5 on Friday

1. Our weekend started off busy!  Ellie had not one, but two birthday parties on Saturday (she was a party animal)!  Nick had an all day bike race, so Grandma and Grandpa Thorson helped me out (which I REALLY appreciated) and watched Neve during the parites.    Ellie had a blast at the "alley bowling" (bowling alley) for Sophia's party and The Little Gym for our neighbors party.   This was also the first day Ellie has gone without a nap (or at least when we have planned for her to go without a nap).  She did awesome all day!

2. Sunday we relaxed and played at the park.   Mike, Megan and Liam joined us at the park and then for dinner.  I love the spring weather and being outside.  It makes the girls sleep so much better at night!

3. Ellie had ear tube surgery bright and early Monday morning.   Ellie did great and she now had new temporary tubes in her ears.  She commented that she can hear better, and Nick thinks she is annunciating better as well.

4. Neve must have heard that Ellie was staying home the next day and wanted to join her, because she came down with a fever of 102.8 in the middle of the night.  It was a long night for Mommy (I had Neve duty) and early morning for Daddy (he had Ellie duty).  Nick stayed home in the morning and I was home in the afternoon.  Of course, the timing of it worked out that neither one of us got a nap in to make up for the lost sleep.   I guess it is just one of the joys of being a parent.

5. I purchased a label maker last week and it arrived on Monday!  I had been thinking about getting one for the past year and finally broke down and ordered it.  (Yes, I do think about buying a $25 item for an entire year before going ahead and doing it!)  I messaged a couple of my super organized friends to tell them about my new purchase, only to find out that they both had one!  Seriously, I am behind the curve.  Anyway, I love it!  And now my house will be all nice and organized.  (Or so I like to pretend.)