We’re still hanging in here.  Yesterday was 100% better than Tuesday.  Good sleep makes all the difference.  We were busy, too, as Analise had school, Josiah went to Grandma’s to play, and I got to run around doing errands all by myself.  Lovely.  Listening to my own music – a brand new Passion CD, God of this City – instead of "Signing Time with Alex & Leah" on repeat, over and over and over again. 

I found a big box from RedEnvelope.com on my front porch.  It was the anniversary present Brian had ordered!  What a surprise!  It’s this beautiful frame set – wood frames for the contemporary wooden 5th anniversary gift.  We’re pretty bad about gifts for each other… usually we just get ourselves what we’d like and tell each other, and we’re both pretty pleased with that.  And since we’d been to Atlanta on our own and Memphis with the kids, I wasn’t expecting a gift at all.  But this was so unexpected and beautiful… I’m so thankful!  Now to find some beautiful photos to put in it…

It was Wednesday, so my dear sweet babysitter Abigail came to watch Josiah while I headed out for our small group.  In lieu of our normal Life Group, we have been having bi-weekly prayer and praise times.  It was such a refreshing time! 

Anyway, today’s going fine…not such good sleep last night, but we’re doing ok.  Analise has her 4yo check-up at noon, and she is FREAKED out.  It’s going to be a rough time, as she has to get a shot or 2.  But we’re crafting a few little 4th of July things, so maybe that’ll redeem the day for her. 

Yes, it’s me again. Just some random thoughts from a weary mom.  It’s been one of Those Days.

Brian and I were up late last night doing things to get him ready to go. Of course, right as we were drifting off to sleep around midnight, I remembered I had all the money in my wallet and he had none, so throughout the night that thought kept coming to mind. Analise was up once, around 3, jumping loudly out of bed, throwing her door open, throwing our door open, jolting us awake. I took her back and laid with her for a few minutes.

Then Brian’s alarm went off at 4:20. I needed to get up to put the money in his wallet, because I figured he’d forget it in the 4 seconds it would take him to walk from the bedroom to the living room in his bleary-eyed state, with his mind solely thinking of coffee and cereal. I did go back to bed immediately, though, praying in my half sleep that somehow the kids would sleep through Brian’s departure. Amazingly, they did, though Josiah thought it was morning at 5:45. I tossed a couple toys in his bed and told him it was absolutely NOT morning yet. Analise came to my bed at 6:15, and finally Josiah started loudly throwing things out at 6:30.

We were all grumpy from the moment we got up. Analise was full of tears and dramatics for various things off and on all day. We visited a friend down the street so I could talk about MOPS leadership things. Analise told me later they weren’t being very nice to her, but while we were there she was in tears several times. Josiah prowled their house looking for things to climb on and knock over. Except for the cute moment where he got down on his belly and laid nose to nose with their sweet little chubby 5-month old. He was talking to her about something. Not a very good meeting.

I decided we all needed a break, so we hopped in the car for Chik-Fil-A. Lunch and an hour of the crazy playground was a good answer for my frazzled morning. Amazingly and in spite of the bunches of kids, we didn’t have many teary moments, except for Josiah getting run over by the big kids a couple times. I had to laugh as I sat there watching mom after mom walk into the restaurant with 2, 3 and 4 kids in tow. How many others were there just counting the minutes until naptime like I was?

It’s nice to know I’m not alone 🙂

Naptime was a just the wonderful respite we all needed. There was the usual post-nap grumpies by all, but when I finally gave up trying to get things done and sat down and played puzzles and games, everyone was happy. And now, it’s bedtime. I’m determined to get a good night’s sleep so that at least I wake up in a better mood tomorrow!

So Brian left this morning at 5am for his week-long trip to Boston for a bike race.  It’s a pretty big event, and he was invited to ride with another team.  There’ll be lots of details on his cycling blog soon, I’m sure.  He’s driving up with a couple other guys, but most of his expenses are being picked up by the team, so this is really a low-cost race trip for him.  Sweet!

Anyway, he took my laptop, which will actually be good for me.  I’ll have to go downstairs and use his computer when I really need/want to, instead of the too-frequent email/web checks throughout the day when my laptop is in the middle of the living room.  And I probably might be blogging more, so that I don’t call him 10 times a day and make him look like the guy who can’t get away from his wife.  I know he wouldn’t mind talking to me whenever I call, of course, but I’m trying to let him have this time to himself.

I hope the week goes quickly, though… after a really long, exhausting day with the kids, it sure is quite and lonely here now that they’re in bed!

After I shared some of my favorite random links, Corrie asked to see what I read regularly.  Since I’m embarrassed to post the whole list, and you’d be overwhelmed and not get to appreciate ANY of them, I decided I’m going to start posting one link a day.  Hopefully, that’ll let me share more of them, and you won’t be distracted from whatever you’re supposed to be doing. 🙂  Not that you’re supposed to be doing anything other than reading our blog, but let me tell ya… I’m always in the mood to click-click-click, especially when I’ve got laundry to fold!

I, of course, love mom blogs, especially if they’ve got fun, easy, crafty, creative ideas.    Gourmet Momma on the Go has all that… and it all involves food!  Let me highlight just a few of the favorites..

• Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Bowls
• Blooming Snacks
• Alphabet Biscuits
• Her whole collection of Alphabet Snacks
• And a fun section of Book and a Snack ideas

Lots more awesome ideas, but I don’t have time to post them at the moment bc it’s naptime here, thankgoodness.

Well, at least *I* am home for good.  Brian’s off to Boston on Tuesday to race with another team in a 4-day race.  He’ll be gone for a week, and we’ll miss him TONS.

But our weekend trip to Memphis was great fun.  Brian got 7th today, and he finished up 8th overall for the weekend.  The $$$ didn’t quite pay for the trip, but that wasn’t the point.  We had a fun time with our friends.  The kids enjoy race weekends infinitely more when they’ve got people to play with.  Besides Lauren and Anna’s company, we met 2 girls from Missouri, and the 6 of them played happily – VERY happily – for 2+ hours today during the races.  It was fabulous.

After the bike race, we enjoyed a fun lunch at Red Robin with an old college friend of Brian’s.  Bert and his wife, Stephanie, were wonderful lunch companions in spite of our exhausted and overwhelmed kids.  Poor Analise collapsed in my lap when the waitstaff brought out balloons and an ice cream sundae and sang to her.  She was so tired, she didn’t know what to do with herself. 

After celebrating Analise’s birthday several times in the last 6 weeks, she woke up today and asked, "Am I 4 now?"  "Yes, dear," I replied, "you are finally actually 4."   (She loves to use the word "actually".  It’s so cute.  Who’d expect a 4 year old to be saying, "well, no, actually, I don’t know where Josiah’s train is."  Huh!)  We’re having Brian’s family over for dinner tomorrow for the LAST celebration.  I’m going to make a nice fluffy pink cake and let her toss all the pink and purple sprinkles on it she wants 🙂

I can’t believe I have a 4-year old.  Where does the time go? 

Beautiful family photo by Corrie Haffly. 
She’s taken photos of some of the best moments in our lives!

Four years ago we were beginning a long, long day. I don’t remember much of it, but I know your Daddy was stressed and tired. But at 10:35pm, you burst into the world and all was well. We’ve all grown so much since then!

Right before our eyes, you’ve grown into a joyful little lady. Singing, dancing, imagining, laughing, loving, always up to something. You’re full of wise analytical discussions, and I can already see whispers of your Daddy’s super-sharp mind in your questions.

Of course, you love to ride your bike. You’re disappointed to find out that there’s no kid’s bike race when we’re at one of Daddy’s race. But you dive right in with your cheerleader attitude as we watch Daddy go round and round… "Go, Daddy, go! Go, Daddy, go!"

You love an audience. If there’s anyone around for you to talk to, you’ve got to be telling them about Dora or lately, of of Josiah’s latest mis-adventures. And when Josiah’s hurt, I’m never sure who hurts more – you or him!

Of course you’re into princesses now, which I find so appropriate. You love to find a willing partner to wear the tiaras, dress-up gowns, glass slippers and play with Belle or Ariel.

Analise, my sweet girl, we love who you’ve become. We pray everyday that you’d continue to grow in grace and wisdom. We’re so thankful for the surprise blessing that arrived just as we started our 2nd year together. May this be a year full of fun, learning, loving and grace.

Awesome wedding photo by Corrie Haffly. 
This is better than any of the professional photos we had!

Five years ago right now, Brian and I were being cheered away from our reception with sparklers waving and hundreds of little gold hearts blowing from our a/c vents. To this day, we still have little hearts that we can see in the windshield deep in the vent. We always say we’re newlyweds as long as those hearts stay there. Whew… because some days, two kids can make you feel not-so-much like newlyweds! We’re always glad for the reminder 🙂

Brian…Five sweet years. So much has happened. We’ve grown so much as individuals and even more as a couple. Two amazing, beautiful children, countless memories and experiences, many many miles, lots of bike races, hundreds of Toonebucks coffees. From the first sweet kiss at the altar 5 years ago that has multiplied by hundreds to the sweaty one after the bike race today… I love you even more today than I did then, Brian. Thank you for being my encourager, my helpmate, my partner, my provider, my shoulder to lean on and the arms that are always there to surround me with strength and love. I hope these 5 years are just a drop in the bucket compared to we’ve got ahead of us because I know our love is only going to get better. God’s written an amazing, captivating love story, and His grace and faithfulness shine through every page. I love you.

I was just re-reading our wedding pages and found these fun memories:

• Our Story of meeting and falling in love as we wrote it before the wedding.
• Our wedding party… fun little glimpses of who those awesome people were to us back then.
• The slideshow of photos from our dating days, the engagement, the wedding weekend, and our awesome European honeymoon adventure.
• And last but certainly not least, the wedding video. I remember Brian worked SO HARD from a little internet cafe in Oxford, England to get this online for all our far-off friends.

PS… his bike race went great today. You can see the details on his cycling blog, but he got 5th. He was a little disappointed until I pointed out that was quite appropriate for our 5th anniversary, and the prize $ for 5th was $55. Haha. I guess it was in the cards 🙂

Saturday is our 5th anniversary, and Sunday is Analise’s birthday (even though she’s celebrated several times already, and she thinks she’s already 4!). No big celebrations planned except that we’re off to Memphis… for a bike race 🙂 Actually, it was my idea. Brian wasn’t planning on racing, but we’ve wanted to make a family race weekend trip sometime when our friends Lennie – who also races – and Kim could go, and bring their kids, Lauren and Anna, who shared our zoo birthday party. The four of them have gotten to be great friends. So, of course the guys jumped at the chance to race, Kim and I are looking forward to cheering for them together and hanging out, and the kids are ECSTATIC at going on a trip together. It should be lots of fun, especially since we visited the library today and got 6 (!) new DVDs for the 5-hour trip. Two Princess Stories, 2 Signing Time, and 2 Thomas… a good mix to keep us from going crazy. The kids have been absolutely hooked on Cars for the last couple weeks, and though we love that movie, we need a change!

Analise is at her Grandma Beverly’s for the night, Josiah is resting fitfully after his 2-year checkup. His chubby little legs were really hurting him because of the 2 shots this evening. It’s been a quiet, relaxing night, and hopefully, I’ll have some good time in the morning to pull everything together for the early afternoon departure.

I’ve got a blog-post 90% written -with pictures even! – about the first leg of our trip to Wisconsin. Hopefully, I’ll finish it soon, maybe even tomorrow morning. Happy weekend!

Bad Luck Boy continues his woes… After a fun morning of playing in the sprinkler, popscicles and then splashing in the water table, Josiah tangled with a wasp on the back
porch. He’s got 2-3 stings on his cheek/by his ear and 2 on his
wrist, probably from trying to swat it away. What screams 🙁 I held it
together to get some ice on the ONE sting I saw, but then I unraveled
when I saw the others a few minutes later. Man, I feel so bad. Of
course, he’s fine. Back to his normal self, minus the slightly swollen
stings. Thank goodness its naptime here, bc I don’t know about the kids, but I’m exhausted.

**By this evening, the stings were hardly even noticeable, though Josiah was full of chatter about the bugs.  Analise was full of discussion about his experience, too, and we had a serious talk about NOT swatting bugs away, but calling for mommy or daddy and walking away without bothering the bugs.  Brian’s dad – my HERO – came this afternoon to spray the hidden wasp nest, where there were two big red wasps hanging out between the eave and the gutter.  Whew – enough excitement for one day!  Hopefully we can keep my boy from trouble for a few days 🙂

I’ve been stockpiling these good links in a text file, waiting for the day I could find some way to tie them all together.  It’ll never happen, so I might as well share them so you can enjoy them!  Honestly, these are some of my absolute favorite posts EVER…

• Mom live-blogging a tornado – Absolutely hilarious, from Rocks in My Dryer (one of my favorite daily blogs to read)
• My (Kia) Sedona – Seriously, laugh-out-loud funny… I’m laughing just typing this in!  from Scribbit, a mom blogging in Alaska, another one of my favorite everyday reads.
• A bit late, but still worth thinking about, 7 Keys to a Happier Mother’s Day
• Stay-at-home-moms worth nearly $117,000 a year – Whew… why do I ever wonder if what I do is of any value?
• Quads sans cribs – Oh-my-goodness, I’ve got it so easy with one toddler.  What life looks like when toddler quads learn to escape their cribs.
• We support a child through Compassion International, so it was fun to find that they have a young man blogging for them who was formerly supported by their programs. 
• A poignant message to Be Still... I need to be reminded of this EVERY SINGLE DAY.
• Fun family rules from Wondertime.com