anniversary #13.....all the love that a girl could want

Two weekends ago we headed out to Chicago to celebrate our 13th Anniversary.  We hit all our usual spots starting with Ikea......

 This little spot gave me inspiration for my kitchen window....so I found the fabric section and came home and got to work on my little sewing machine.  I'll post a picture of how it turned out later. :)

 I think I must have the perfect husband (for me) that is....I don't know many other men that enjoy Ikea as much as I do.  However in the above picture he trying his best to look mad...because this is the new color I we picked for our boys' room.  He knows I'm right...the color was wrong in there, and had to be changed.  The black and white accents with the green is very clean & crisp. I will have to take some pictures of the color in the boys' bedroom and post them later.  I luuuuvvvvveee how it turned out.  I love getting inspired and seeing room layouts.  Giddy.  Down right GIddY!  

 Also got an idea for these shelves.....and a cheaper way to make them.  Hubby is currently in the basement working on those.  I love that he is bored in the winter and enjoys projects.

 LoVe that Ikea lists the colors they used.  We skipped the Benjamin Moore store and hit Lowes~they match the Benjamin Moore color for Free and it's perfect. 

 After Ikea we headed over to our "priceline" hotel....was very pleased with our 3 star for 1/2 the cost!

 For dinner we ate at Maggianos (little Italy), a place we found over the summer.  We loved it then and it was so fun to go back.  Yummo!! We shared a meal and still couldn't finish it!  Tasty!

 Since we had no kids, no time limit, and no agenda we decided a movie would be SWWWWEEETTT....so we headed over to a theater that had 20 shows to pick from.  WOW!  Awesome!  It doesn't take much to make me smile.

Stayed out late, talked until I think I almost ran out of words.....Amazing to have all the time and space and no interruptions.  Made me fall in love all over again~with my man.  Love him!

 I have no other favorite breakfast spot in all the world than Egg'lectic Cafe..... Their delivery is so amazing, the atmosphere is quaint, and the service is outstanding.  Again...enjoyed the amazing bliss of it just being us 2, with no rushing though a meal and with hopes no one has to pee during the meal. :)  Love those kids~don't misunderstand....Just love being on dates so very, very much!  Esp. one that lasts all day & all night

After breakfast we found a "The Container Store", somewhere I always wanted to visit....Walked through every single isle!  Found a couple of treasures....But most of all, just loved having the freedom to not be rushed, and to window shop.

Love love. times 13!!!  

Pictures of finished projects to come, later.

how we celebrated 11 years

So over the weekend we went to celebrate our 11th anniversary. We decided to go to Ft. Wayne. There's always so much to do there and it seems like when we are there, we don't get everything done that I think would be so cool to do. Saturday we dropped the kids off at my friend, Marlys' house and I couldn't help but feel just a little overwhelmed for her. She has 2 of her own and then she offered to keep our kids overnight. Her children are 3 and 5....ours our 2,4,6,and 8. So really she had her hands full. And you know what she told me when we left? "Take your time and don't rush back." She said it twice! So I knew she meant it. What a special gift to give, the gift of childcare. Overnight. With the words, "take your time".

Our first stop was a resale shop that I wanted to check out. They are in between seasons so it was hard to find anything we were looking specifically for. But wow, so fun to stop in and shop without the worry of time, or children. We also stopped over at Old Navy. Loved the 50% off winter clothes. It came in handy for jeans that our children keep wearing holes in the knees!!! Then we checked into our hotel and headed over to find the Cinema Grill. A movie theatre that serves dinner while you watch a movie. We purchased our tickets...and snap we had 45 minutes to wait. Well that was totally perfect because right next to the Cinema Grill was Target. And I heart Target so very much. How fun to look through the isles with again no one winning to go to the toy isle, crying, or needing to go potty. Love the kids, don't get me wrong. But wow, loved the break from the day to day. My favorite part of the Target stop was jeans I found for Isabella for $3.94! WOW! Again I heart Target! So after our shopping trip we headed back to the movie theatre and watched this. I'm not a huge fan of Jim Carrey but Donovan is. So he got Jim. I got Target. We were both happy.

After the movie we were feeling pretty footloose and fancy free so we headed across town to Krispie Kream.

We each got a donut and shared a mocha. Then the man handed us valentines that were each good for a free donut. Actually, he handed us about 10 of those valentines. No strings attached, except one free donut/per person. So we each got a free donut after we finished the ones we had just bought.

See how happy I am about free?? Or is the happiness from being on a date? Or knowing I can stay up as late as I want and sleep in? Or is it the aroma of the fresh, yummy donuts?

Then we headed back to the hotel. Funny thing about the hotel was I was so excited that our hotel had a fireplace in the room. We looked closer and realized it was a real fireplace that required real wood. Even more perfect. So we went to the front desk to inquire. Well snap! $2.50 for wood. I can't believe it. They had us, we forgot to pack firewood. But we slapped down the big bucks, because we wanted to be "livin' the dream." So we went back and started the fire. Among other things. I know this would be a perfect picture opportunity...but shoot...forgot to take any pictures. I'll move onto the next morning.

We slept in. Slept in until 9:30!! How delicious. How very, very delicious. We packed up and got ready and just about missed the complimentary hot breakfast. Thankfully we made it with 10 minutes to spare.

Then we headed over to the mall for some shopping. I love the Glenbrook Mall. Love it. I was specifically looking for a dress for a wedding and well just to have a nice dress for church. How exciting to have time to try dresses on and to look around, and a husband willing to spend a little cash on his wife. We also got to spend a gift card while there and pick up some more jeans for the kids.

Yes, we are the dorks taking pictures at the mall. We were not locals- so we swallowed our pride and took a picture to make the memory of that day. SO FUN!

After the mall we headed to some other stores to take back a return, and then headed out to lunch. We called to check on the kids, of course they were fine. Again Marlys told us to not rush back. What a treat. WOW!

After lunch we redeemed 2 more coupons/valentines for free donuts. :) And then started home. What an awesome 2 days spent with the one I love.

Quote of the day:

Such a long quote, but too cute not to share.

Last night at dinner. Talking about praying so fast before dinner.

Donovan: "Jack do you think that God can understand you when you talk so fast? Do you think other people can understand you?"

Jack: "How can God hear through the house walls?"

William: "Because God is in your tummy. I mean your heart"

Jack:"How can he fit in there?"

William: "He cuts off His head and ducks in."

11 years....Yeah, It seems that long.

January 3rd marks 11 years of wedded bliss. And really it seems like that long! Because I can't imagine life without him. I can hardly remember how it was to know him in a dating kind of relationship. I have no idea how it was when we didn't have kids. Sleeping in every Saturdays???? Getting only yourself ready in the morning? Making meals for 2? Seems like a 100 years ago. I look forward to the next season of our life, living past the diaper and getting up at night stages....moving into everyone going to school. More parent/teacher conferences. Our first teenager coming up in 4 1/2 years. Watching our Suzy go to Kindergarten. Anticipating Jack in braces in the years to come. Wondeirng how William will adjust to going to school. Watching in wonder as they all grow up so fast. Loving the ride of my life with my best friend, my husband. Who understands me in such a complete way. When we fight, he's learning to give me space. Until I come around to wanting to talk. I'm learning to admit I'm wrong. Which is very painful to be honest.

This morning I was telling our oldest, Isabella about what I was doing 11 years ago today. How I was decorating & getting ready for our candlelit wedding coming the very next night. And after our wedding how we flew to Ixtapa, Mexico for our honeymoon. I was reminiscing of our hotel tucked into this authentic part of Mexico with the most amazing service. A swim up bar that served vanilla bean ice cream with flecks of vanilla beans harvested right there in their town. It was so amazing. After ice cream, then laying in the sun. While laying by the pool the hotel staff had little Mexican girls bring cold wash clothes scented with flowers and arranged beautifully on a platter with fresh cut pink little flowers....Just to cool us off.

The weather was so perfect that week. It was an amazing memory of getting to know my new husband in a new way. Go to the open market. Watching Donovan para sailing, thinking he will probably crash, & I might have to fly home from our honeymoon by myself. Sleeping as late as we wanted, eating out every single day. Finding new restaurants and trying to order with knowing very little Spanish, in a town that knew very little English.

What a memory! I hope someday we can revisit Ixtapa. Until then I live with the memory, and realize how very much we've been blessed. I feel God's hand in this family. I'm so very thankful for all these things that I don't deserve. All these things God orchestrated with his wisdom. Giving me things at times in my life when I had no idea of his whole plan for my life. Dealing me things that I was devastated by, later learning a lesson in God's perfect ways. Sometimes this took a year to see - sometimes several years. WOW is all I have to say. God has been so gracious to me.

I'm so thankful for Donovan, my husband and best friend.

Quote of the day:

Suzy (the 2 year old) : "Daddy, you have big ears?"

Dad: "yeah, I do."

Suzy: "I like your big ears daddy."

earning brownie points

Usually Monday brings the blues for me. I just get a little overwhelmed starting the week....and after having a weekend with help from big "D" I just hate to get back to reality. I'd rather keep playing house, the version where the husband stays home and he doesn't need a little thing like a job.





However......today was different.




And what made that difference you ask?




Part of it was 3 little children that slept until 9:00 a.m.! (Isabella of course was up by 7 for school) But Jack, William, and Suzanna slept in! And that just makes me happy. It has been months since we have slept like that, and it truly warms my heart. I am not of the morning variety.






And the other part that truly made my Monday seem not so huge...is the weekend. Rest and Relaxation, the Bed & Breakfast we were at, and the love & affection. We had an awesome time celebrating our 10th anniversary.




Donovan had to work later than usual on Friday so that got us off to a later start than we had planned. After I came down from my pedestal and tucked my expectations away....I apologized for my behavior and we were off to a great little overnight get-away. We checked in to the B & B, and as we walked in to the room....this is what I saw.

Donovan doesn't do flowers. Mostly at my request. I just think it's a lot of money to spend on something that is so short term. But this my friends, was a sweet gesture of love, and earned major brownie points. After the check-in we went to dinner at a little sweet cafe' called Every day people Cafe'. The name of the restaurant is a puzzle to me?? It was candle lit, delicious food, and exactly what I had in mind --even though it was a surprise to me where we were going to end up for dinner.

After we finished dinner the owner of the restaurant stopped us on our way out and saw Donovan's camera and asked if we would like her to take a picture. Great! It would be nice to have one together....so this is what she did.... made us go back to a clean table and sit down and pose. She wanted it just right.

The owner then asked us our names and what we were celebrating, then she proceded to get the entire rooms attention and told the whole restaurant our names, that we were celebrating our 10th and to please would they help her sing, "happy anniversary" in the tune of Happy Birthday. Just a little embarrassing.











We laughed and quickly slipped out. It was around 10:00 and since we were feeling wild and free we went to see a late movie. Then went back to our B & B and took a long, relaxing soak in the jacuzzi......it was only 1:00 a.m. but hey, we didn't have to get up with 4 little kids so we took full advantage of the freedom. The jacuzzi was outside on the dock of the B & B, that overlooks the harbor. They had some snow on the ground in Saugatuck, but the water was hot and we had a blast.



Here is a picture taken the next morning after breakfast looking out over the harbor.

What a fun weekend. We just don't go away by ourselves enough. Thanks to a great husband that made the night so fun, and to Grandma and Grandpa for keeping the kids.

10 year bliss

While on vacation....Donovan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary on January 3rd. I wanted to put together a slide show and surprise him on that day, but alas, no internet. So here it is finially done....it is on the following post because I am internet challanged and could not figure out how to do both Html and regular composing.

One quote I love comes from one of my favorite movies, Captain Corelli's Mandolin and I think it worth repeating because it just fits. Wish I wrote it...but here it is anyways....



When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the desire to mate every second of the day. It is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing you. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn't sound very exciting, does it? But it is!


Not from the Bible, but still has truth. Does it not? So that being said, Thank you Donovan. Thank you for loving me through thick and thin, through fat and thin, through births & high emotions, and many many hair cuts and colors.