Birthday - part 2

Here I am, one week after my birthday, doing part 2. Here are my excuses: #1 I am sick and have been crazy tired all week. #2 My camera died, so I haven't photographed anything else anyway.

We spent last Saturday at the lake. After we inflated the Carribean Island (see below), I did not leave it until it was time to go inside for dinner.

Brian bringing the Carribean Island and the air compressor down to the dock. Any excuse to use the tractor...

Mike, Julie, Jen, Karis, Christi, and me on the Carribean Island.

Me and Karis

We ate some delicious cedar plank salmon, veggies, and potato salad for dinner and then had brownies, strawberry shortcake, and key lime pie for dessert.

Me and Christi - lovely



blowing out the candle

My nephew, Carter, and his nanny.

Edna (aka Julie) and Tezra.

Maeson and Madison

I tied ribbons from a gift in their hair - they loved it :)

Birthday

My birthday this year was fantastic. It was a whole weekend of celebration. So much, that I still need a nap from it all. The first thing we did was have lunch with my mom at my favorite Mexican place: Monterrey in Oak Ridge. They brought me a sombrero to wear and sang Happy Birthday to me - in English! I was outraged and proceed to yell "in Spanish!" at them - here is photo evidence of that:


My sweet mom got me some flip flops, a rug for my kitchen, and a sweet basil plant (which I'm stoked about). Here we are with the basil:


That night, I had dinner with my favorite people in the world (minus a few who weren't able to come) at Lakeside Tavern. With the exception of my best friend, Christi, all of these people are in our small group. If you don't already have some sort of community - get you one! We truly do life together. We learn and grow and celebrate and serve together -it is super cool.

Christi and me.


Tiffany, Andrew, Mark, Tracy, and Jade


Evan, Marta, Sharon, and Tara.

Christi, Me, Jen, and Tara.

Don't know how Brian didn't make it into any of the dinner pictures, but he was there. Afterwards, we went to Menchie's - a self-serve frozen yogurt place...mmm mmm.

Here is a pic of most of us:

The weekend continued with more celebration, but I'll save that for another post.

End of the Year Program

You may know that I keep my niece, Maeson, after preschool on weekdays. Maeson turned four in December and she is a delightful little girl. She loves all things pink and princess - so we have fun together. Maeson is also an incredible little helper in the kitchen.

Anyway, she had her end of the year program for Pre-K 3 last night. When she got on stage, Maeson realized that she was on the big screen behind her - it cracked her up! She spent about half the time turned around looking at herself. I didn't get a picture of that, but here are some pictures I did get.

Maeson actually doing the motions to the song.

Me and Mae.
(I look like I've had a long day - not feeling well)

Maeson and her new fish.

Recommitment

Everybody seems to be doing so well at keeping their blog up to date these days! At least the people I read the most are. So, here I am, jumping back on the blog-wagon. I am trying to think of terms of this recommitment, but I can't seem to nail it down. Once a day? Three times a week? Once a week?

I will say this - I will make a concerted effort to speak my voice on this blog. Somehow, I read other peoples blogs and think, "well, I guess I should write like that or about that" So, I'm gonna write about whatever I want!!! Oot oot.

Here are some things that I have pictures of since the last post:


Easter @ the Lakehouse

Dad and Suzie

Dad and Julie

Us.

Mother's Day @ our house

My littlest niece, Amari.

My mom in her Mother's Day Thong!!!! hahahahahaha!!!

Kate

sorry for the quality of this pic - it was taken with my phone

This is Kate. She is the daughter of my friends, Marta and Evan. (You should check out their blog - Marta posts much more often than I do) I got to hang out with her tonight and she is such a joy. Really, she babysits herself. If you don't know what's next in the routine, Kate will tell you. For example, when putting her to bed she will say "green" and point to her monitor to remind you to turn it on.



Our friend, Tracy, used to be the primary Kate-sitter. She is currently in DC doing an internship at National Geographic. Tonight we were looking at pictures on my phone and I showed her one of Tracy. Kate said "hold you" which she has done before with a picture of Tracy. Guess I'm no substitute - not that I really want to be. Tracy, we all want you back!

Otis

Here's a picture of one of our sweet doggies - Otis. yes, his tongue really is that long. In fact, it's probably longer...most of the time it doesn't even fit in his mouth.

We found out this week that Otis has a mast cell tumor. It is a kind of cancer that is very common to boxers. The good news is that it looks well differentiated - which means that after having it removed he probably won't need more treatment. He has surgery next Friday.

It may seem silly or sentimental to post this about a dog, but it made me sad - and I am very thankful that he will probably be alright. Besides, anyone who has met Otis loves him.

Spring

"See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare;
before they spring into being I announce them to you." Isaiah 42:9

I love Spring! It gives me hope and makes me feel lighter. For the past few days it has been incredibly warm around here. It seems like overnight all the trees are blooming and most of the daffodils (my favorite) are in bloom. Probably because I planted them this fall, my daffodils have yet to peek their pretty little faces out.

Flowers that Brian got for me.

Blurry, but these are the blooms on our little tree in the front yard.

The neighbors' Bradford Pear

One of my daffodils, just about ready to open up.

As I write this, it is 40 degrees outside and gloomy. But the trees and the flowers are telling me that winter will soon be over for good!! (or at least until December)