Two Left Feet

For those of you who know my husband well, you know that he does not like to dance and struggles with finding rhythm. He does have two left feet on the dance floor. Well, today he was in a wedding and literally had two left feet. When he went to put the tuxedo on today (a half hour before the wedding) he saw that he was given two left shoes to wear. On top of that he was given extremely short pants, the sleeves were too short on his shirt, and the buckle on the waist band broke. He spent an entire day in this malfunctioning tuxedo and he wore the two left shoes. Poor guy! He just got home (as I am writing this entry) and is quickly taking the outfit off so he can feel comfortable again. Tomorrow I get the pleasure of taking the tuxedo back to the store and asking for a refund. We'll see what happens! At least the wedding was beautiful and the bride and groom are married and on their way to their honeymoon.

The really fun part of the weekend was spending time with my dear friend Jaimi. Our husbands were in the wedding together so we had tons of time to catch up and just hang out together. I am so grateful for that time with her.
I just love weddings! Yesterday during the rehearsal I spent that time daydreaming about what my second wedding would be. Of course I would marry Dan again! I always tell him that I want to get married again so I can go try wedding dresses on. I loved my first wedding so much, but I would have a different kind of wedding if I did it again. Do you want to know what it would be like? I am glad you asked! The wedding would be in the evening when the sun is going down. It would be very romantic. I would wear a silky wedding gown with no train. It would be kind of form fitting. The only music would be one guitarist. The wedding party would be just me and Dan. Dan would wear a casual white shirt and khaki pants or shorts. We would both wear sandals. Ideally I would want it on a beach, but if we couldn't do that then it would still be an outdoor wedding around here. Then we would have a dessert reception right after the wedding. It would be a relaxing reception and no one would have to wait for us to get there to start eating. Dan promises me that we can renew our wedding vows someday down the road so I will have to save these ideas for another time.

Can I See the Bear at the Zoo?

For the last several months, Mya has been asking us if she could see the bear at the zoo. So we finally took her to the zoo today and we did get to see a bear.

It was a very hot and sticky day, but the kids did extremely well! We went to the zoo with some good friends of ours. They are in town visiting and we only get to see them a couple times a year. They came from Florida, but are moving to Colorado in August. They took two of their little boys and all the kids got along wonderfully. All in all it was a good day. This is what our girls did at the zoo:

Sara ate and ate and ate and ate.....

While Mya said "hi" to the bears.....

And she said "hi" to the fishies and to all the other animals that we saw.

Meeting God

Today was our first day of bible school. Mya and Sara did very well in their classrooms while I taught first grade. The first day went so smooth. I hope that the rest of the week goes that way. The morning went very fast. Luckily things are organized well and the kids are kept busy all morning. I had the opportunity today to pray with a little girl and help her accept Christ in her heart. I have never done this before and it was an amazing experience. I asked her if she was interested in asking Jesus in her heart and she said, "That would be a good thing to do. Okay!" Amazing experience!

But the best part of today was when I pulled the car up to the church and Mya said, "Mommy, do we get to see God today?" We had been talking about going to bible school all weekend and she expected to meet God at the church. What a great question?

Getting Ready for the Holiday

Happy Father's Day Honey!

You are the best father. You are so loving and caring. I love the way you hold the girls and rock them in the chair everyday. I love the way you have cute nicknames for the girls (Sara Sue Sue and Mya Moo). I love the way you take care of the girls at night and bathe them and brush their teeth and say prayers with them. And I especially love the way you smiled at each daughter the day they were born. Thank you for being their Daddy!

Tonight I took Dan to dinner at a wonderful restaurant in Cleveland. It is called Blue Pointe Grill. It was fabulous! We both had lobster and it melted in our mouths. I smile just thinking about it. There was a time during dinner when Dan was trying to get his lobster off the shell and he almost dropped it on the floor. We both agreed that there would have been no hesitation to pick it up off the floor and eat it. The meal was that good! Then we stopped at the Strongsville mall and got Sara a bathing suit for $4 at the Gap. I was so excited about that find. Of course we really stopped at the mall so Dan could get his favorite smoothie. Then we stopped at our favorite ice cream shop called Stricklands. What a night! Tomorrow we are going out to lunch with Dan's family. The girls and I have a small gift to give Dan when he wakes up tomorrow morning. I got him a book that he has wanted for a long time. I love getting presents for Dan and surprising him. It is so fun.

Artsy Fartsy

I am not one to brag, but I do feel like I have to share about something that I did. Now I did grow up around an artsy mom and sister, but I never caught on to that skill. I did not care for art and especially dreaded going to art museums when we went on vacations. But when you are living on a budget it is amazing what you will do to save money. So today I became an artist. Oh yes, I made the wreath that you see below. It is now hanging on my door and I am pretty proud of it. It took me hours to put together, but thanks to a hot glue gun the flowers are there to stay for a really long time. I have lived in this house for about 8 years and have had two wreaths during that time. I decided it was time for a wreath that was designed just the way that I like it. I can't wait to drive by my house tomorrow and see how it looks.

New Wall

I finally got all of our family pictures together and on my wall. I was so excited to change the pictures in the frames. I have always had black and white photos up and now I have switched to color. I think that the color photos look pretty good with the purple wall. I love to make little changes around the house. I am definately not a person who likes to keep things in the same spot for very long. I think it is fun to change things up.

Here is the old wall......

Here is the new wall.....

My Sister, My Best Friend

Trip Down Memory Lane

I know....I know.....I haven't posted in a while. Things have been CRAZY around here. I am juggling three big projects and taking care of two toddlers. It is hard to find time to maintain my e-mails, let alone my blog. But I find that I miss journaling about our life. It is therapeutic and fun for me. So I will try to make more time to do this.

Today during lunch I made my husband promise me that he would have a "picture party" with me tonight. Know what that is? That is when you pull out all the old pictures from our childhood and look at them. Doesn't that sound fun? This is definately a "Julie game." I tried to play it with him last night but he was too tired and didn't want to look at my pictures. Anyway, I decided to have my own "picture party" during lunch and realized quickly that maybe I don't want to show Dan my growing up pictures. I was chubby! My face looked like a chipmunk. I don't want him to see me like that. I know he would still love me, but it was sort of depressing looking at the pictures. Oh well! Maybe I will cancel the party tonight.

On the positive side, I did enjoy seeing pictures of some really fun times. Like the time when I made my college roommate dress up with me. We put our bathing suits over our clothes and put goggles on. Then we took pictures of ourselves. Then there was the time when I danced for 32 hours. How dumb was that? Then there was the time when I was a camp counselor and we rode in the van with helmets on because the driver was a crazy driver. There was also the time when me and my sister had a drinking party at our house while our parents were out of town. That was totally my sister's idea. I just enjoyed the company of the people at our house. There was also the time when me and my college friends would have "surprise attacks" in the sorority house. We would get our hairdryers and curling irons out as our weapons and put bowls on our heads. Then we would crawl down the hallway, quietly open up someones door, and yell "SURPRISE!"

All of these memories are in one shoe box. I think I might pick and choose what pictures I show Dan tonight. While all of you are sitting around your house watching television and snacking, think of me and Dan having a "picture party" with popcorn. Maybe you should have one too!

Water Play

We had a neighborhood water party this afternoon. After dragging both girls around town to run errands, we all decided that we were hot and sticky and needed some baby pool time. I set the pool up in the front yard and the neighbor kids came over to play. They love spending time with Mya and Sara. And I love that they come over and create fun times for the girls. They started pouring water on each other so I turned the sprinkler on and everyone had a great time. Sara wasn't so sure about it all so she stayed by my side and ate her crackers. Speaking of Sara, I think my daughter has a tape worm. Could this be possible? I am not exaggerating one bit when I say that she wants to eat ALL the time. She consumes large amounts of food and remains a peanut. She is tall and thin, but she shouldn't look like that because of the food that she eats. She is always wanting food. It is like I can't fill her tummy up enough. Maybe it is just a growth spurt, but I hope that one of these days she gets filled up so she isn't so fussy.

Restoration

These last couple days have been a whirlwind. We had Sara's first birthday party on Thursday night at my sister's house. My mom, step-dad, aunt and cousin came for this party. We enjoyed watching all the kids play and eating yummy hamburgers (thanks Rob). Friday was Sara's actual birthday. Dan and I had a fun evening with the girls just playing at home. Then on Saturday we had a big party with Dan's side of the family and my Dad, step-mom, sister, and brother-in-law came to that one. We also had some friends come too. It was a beautiful day for a party.

I have more cake pictures to share of Sara. At Saturday's party she tried to put the entire baby cake in her mouth. That girl can eat!

Birthday Girl!

Tomorrow (Friday) Sara will be one year old. Wow! I can not believe that a whole year has gone by already. She is walking all over the place and communicates so well. It has been fun to see her grow this year. We had a birthday party for her tonight at my sister's house. Below are some fun pictures of Sara at her party. After playing in the sandbox and eating her very own cupcake, she definately needed a bath!