Happy Birthday Matthew!

Today is Matthew's 28th birthday! He's such a youngin! Last night at Bible study we were asked which fruit of the Spirit your spouse is most full of and I said patience. God knew he would need a lot of it to be married to me!! He is doing a birthday lunch with people from the office (they might also be celebrating Laura's birthday as well...hers is Monday). Matt is still deciding if he wants to do a nice dinner tonight or find a nice restaurant in New England where he can have a "cheap" lobster dinner. Either way, we're going out tonight because I don't want to worry about dishes or leftover!

I love you Matthew!

Dental Visit

I don't know why I scheduled my cleaning and filling for 7 AM this morning, but a few weeks ago I thought that was a good idea. I haven't had to be up before Matt in months, so that was a little different! The hygentist said my teeth weren't that bad for not having been to the dentist in 3 years. (I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much!) Unfortunately, when the dentist started drilling to fill a cavity he said it was larger than he originally thought it was. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, the cavity was near an old filling, so that obstructed his view. After he was done with my filling, the hygentist, nurse, helper lady said that I could rinse with the mouthwash down the hall. What she forgot to mention was that half of my mouth was still numb, so be careful for spraying mouthwash! It wasn't too bad, and I did clean up the squirts that escaped.

For you Seinfeld fans:
One of the patients that came is was obviously upset that she wasn't getting her teeth cleaned, it was just a first visit where they check everything out and take x-rays. I thought this was common practice, but that's not how Lisa's place does it, so maybe it's just a Jacksonville thing. Anyway, after the patient left, 2 of the hygentists were standing outside of my room (with no door) complaining about the patient and how she was being rude and giving the girl a hard time. Then I'm sooooo positive I heard one of them say: Let's write that in her chart! I guess next time she makes an appointment they will remember that she's the rude one.

To do list:

Unfortunately, summer is coming to an end soon. I always have grand plans (i.e. painting all of the baseboards) for the summer that never fully happen. This week will be busy as we get ready to leave for our vacation.

To do:
Meet Melodie and Kevin's baby girl, Lauren
Get 2 more coats of paint on the front door
Dinner out with Bethany
Celebrate Matthew's birthday
Clean
Pack

I know it all sounds doable, but anytime "clean" shows up on a list, it's gonna take a while!

Back from Tallahassee

I just spent a couple of days in Tallahassee getting in some twin time before the end of the summer. The time went really fast, though I was only there for 46 hours. Lisa taught me a fun game, Farkle, which is all about luck and dice. I did get lucky (twice!) and won the last two games. Then we pulled out the old favorite, Skip-bo, and I found out that luck is a very temporary game.





Lisa went to Panera to pick up bagels yesterday and I got a few cute shots of Kayleigh. Kayleigh had her own bagel she was munching on while I was taking pictures. The first bagel was quickly stolen by Ginger (the dog) while Lisa was in the kitchen and I was in the living room getting Kayleigh. That dog is quick and was out the door in a flash. I felt bad for Tracy (the other dog) because she didn't get a treat nearly as big!

Beach day!

Matt had the great idea of going to the beach after church today. I love the beach and rarely pass up the opportunity to go. We came home and changed and grabbed all of the essentials for the day: sunscreen, towels, blanket, water, chair and rafts. We stopped at Publix to pick up sandwiches and drinks and were on our way. We have a little extra drive because we prefer to go to the state preserve because it's a lot less crowded. I was so excited when we got there because the waves were awesome and we brought the rafts for wave riding. We got ourselves settled, had lunch and headed out into the surprisingly chilly water. I don't know if it was because of Hurricane/Tropical Storm B-name or what, but the waves were pretty big and rough! We both caught a couple waves for some good rides in. One of mine was totally awesome! Another wave literally bounced me twice and probably would have kept going if I didn't fall off after the second bounce. I was getting really tired from being hit and pushed back trying to catch the next wave. I was ready to go in and sit for a while, but Matt wanted to catch a few more, so I stayed out with him. On our last wave, this happened:



(I think it looks worse in person, but it still hurts like crazy.)

I'm not sure if the wave pushed me off the raft, pulled the raft out from under me, or both, but whatever happened, I went chin first into the bottom of the ocean. Being the glass-half-full kind of gal that I am, my first thought after my chin hit bottom was "this is how people break their necks and die." When did I become such a fatalist?!? Needless to say, that was my last ride of the day. I was more than happy to just get my raft at the shore, but a couple of nice boys grabbed it for me (gee, thanks). I took it from them and punched a hole in it. Just kidding.

Matt and I spent the rest of our time walking and sitting in the water at the shore. On our way home Matt suggested Slurpees (hello, you HAVE to have a Slurpee after beach day). I filled my cup and set it down on the counter to grab a straw and turned to see Slurpee coming out of the top! I grab napkins and drink and wipe. After I turned to throw the napkins away, more Slurpee comes out of the top!! Do I need to mention my brain freeze trying to drain my drink??

Ok, maybe it wasn't my best day, but I still had fun anyway!

Simba's new toy

Yup, Simba is trying to attack the second hand on the clock. We decided we need a clock in the office and that one was over the fireplace. I will soon be working on something to go over the fireplace, but that wall will be bare for a while!

Juliet

Juliet loves when I cook with cream of chicken soup. We have been getting the cans with the pull off lid. I swear she could hear that lid come off from a mile away...not that she's allowed out of the house to be a mile away! I usually give her the top to lick. Since this one needed a can opener, I just let her lick the rim of the can. No, Matt doesn't think it's a good idea. My mom doesn't either. I'm just trying to get her to like me more than Matt. (Yes, our children are in trouble!)

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today marks 3 years since Matthew and I tied the knot! It really doesn't seem like it's been only 3 years...in a good way! We have Bible study tonight, so we are just opening cards. We'll go out Friday or Saturday to celebrate.



Our cookie cake. The colors are the same as Matt's groom's cookie cake.



Cards waiting to be opened.

My last day in NC

As you can see, my last day here included a pancake breakfast. Yes, mom did cut my pancakes, but it's good to know even when I'm 32 and have 2 kids she'll still cut my pancakes!



Then the neighbors brought their kids over so they could load up the U-Haul for their move to Florida. They were so thrilled we offered to watch them so they wouldn't be in the way. Mia played Chubby with the youngest, something all of us used to do when we were younger.


My friend Christina drove over with her husband and son so
we could go out to lunch. We weren't able to visit last year because she was getting ready for her son to be born. Fun fact: Nathan was due on her son's birthday! I saw Christina and her family when I was up for Jonathan's graduation in December. It's amazing how much babies change in 6 months!!

I knew this week would go by fast. I can't believe I'm heading home tomorrow, but I am looking forward to seeing Matthew again!

Happy Independence Day!

Wake Forest has a walking parade that anyone in town can join. We watched hundreds of families walk by. Some had decorated their strollers, wagons, bikes and bodies for the parade. Mia was very quiet while it was all going on. Once she got back in the car she couldn't stop talking!! Jonathan and Mia walked in the parade...after everyone else had gone by.

Our favorite parade participants were 2 dogs that were spray painted as flags. I thought it was really cute, and the dogs didn't seem to mind being patriotic. I don't know how long they are going to be patriotic puppies!

Look what we found!

Mom, Mia and I were outside. Mom turned over an empty flower pot and there was a black widow inside! I ran inside to get hairspray (mom's bug spray!!) and grabbed my camera. Mom was afraid that it was going to crawl away, but I really wanted a picture. I've never seen one in real life, just pictures, so I had to get a picture of it. We study spiders in 7th grade, so now I have a great picture to show my students.

Whose is whose?

Mia

Mia loves to read books. She has her favorite doll that she'll read to every once in a while. I caught her reading this morning and had to get it on video. I hope the doll understands what she's saying!! At the end of the book Mia says "the end!"

Jonathan was holding Junior and Mia gave him a big kiss. It took a couple of tries to get it, but I don't think she minds kissing him!!