A Morning Hello!

It's gonna be a busy one here today, and I'm feeling pretty good about getting a jump start on the morning by getting up when hubby left for work (soon this is going to have to be an all the time shift I will have to make!) Hopefully Ryan will soon no longer have such wonderful material to banter me over as my strong longing to not get out of bed. And to help me out, I am making the switch from my wonderful Keurig single cup brewer to the full blown coffee pot. Yeah, now Ryan will be able to use my caffeine addiction to give me grief over ;-).

My mom is coming in town today! My house currently looks like it does on any given day, yikes! And I am T-Minus 8 hours until her arrival with many other things besides cleaning on the to do list. I am looking forward to having her again for a stent and thankful she doesn't mind ignoring the nice sheet of dust covering my entire house. 

Blogging should actually be not even on my radar right now, but seeing as Ryan was having crazy thought of going and buying me an IPad the other day because I "never blog anymore". I figured it was in the bank accounts best interest =).

My kids stayed outside for 6.5 hours one day last week. Came in only to go potty and head back out. At one point I had gotten into some reading and hadn't checked on them in a bit. ( I had heard them coming in and out a bit after they ate their lunch, but it had been quiet for a bit) I headed out and saw the older two-- "where's Sadie??" I asked them. "She's inside sleeping on the brown couch!" they chirped. Ah, indeed she was! Despite feeling like that alone ought win me the "Worst Mom" award, I was thankful that at least they were looking out for each other... and that Sadie saw fit to put herself down for a nap despite her mother's neglect!

Isn't it funny how sometimes things that are a nuisance can make you really happy? Loved seeing all these messy shoes piled up inside and outside my bank door. 

How about this trio?! Love it.

Sometimes how big this girl is getting really catches me off guard!!

He loves him some computer games. It's kind of his Friday afternoon treat. While HG is at school and every one else is napping, Bennett gets computer time for a couple hours!

Alright well now time to put that coffee to work-- lunches to be packed, kids to be transported, bathrooms to be wiped down, floors to be de-crumbed, and one grandma to be delivered and picked up!! 

See ya soon!

Bruiser

 How many little guys can look this handsome with a banged up face like this one?!? 

 (and spaghetti?eh) I know one!

Poor kid, fell off his bike and used his face to break the fall! (And his hand/ wrist too) He wore himself out. Despite scaring his momma after the fact that he may have had a concussion, he is just fine- even if his face may take a while to heal- that pavement has a mean right hook [or left as Ryan corrected me;-)]! I tried exciting him over his way cool, very boyish, battle wound. He wasn't fallin' for it. Yeah, he's smart too... =)

The Man of The House

... turns 27 tomorrow! Whew, I can't believe it. Can't believe we're already there, and can't believe we're only there! I can't believe 11 years later, I have this wonderful life and 3 awesome kiddOs with that boy that toted me around every where after he got his license (my chauffeur, right Ry? ;-) Ryan likes to tease saying that my closest girl-friend at the time and I only used him as our chauffeur when we were younger-- I'd say it paid off for him, no? Haha!

Even though his birthday isn't until tomorrow, we kind of celebrated the last couple days. Thursday night we "celebrated" with the kids as a family. When I say celebrated I really mean he opened a present that the kids about drove me to a new depths of insanity over  helped me pick out and had cupcakes. The kids had some great ideas when I asked them what we should get daddy for his birthday. Bennett's was an "army game" and Hannah's was to "go to the Memphis Tigers" (if they were playing in town that may have been a viable option!) I asked them their opinions and then didn't take either of them, haha,-see Ryan, you're not the only one I do that too! =) They were pretty excited to celebrate daddy's birthday and Hannah Grace even knew how old he was  turning without us telling her 1st.

 They sang a beautiful rendition of "Happy Birthday", heh.

 Then last night, we were fortunate enough to celebrate with just the two of us. Grandma and Grandpa Braithwait were generous enough to take the kids for overnight, so we could enjoy dinner and a quiet house and, gasp!, a morning all to ourselves! It was strange and wonderful. Some of you may hate cheesy oozy lovey stuff on here, and I try not to go overboard =) but honestly, can I just say I am so thankful for this man and love him so much! I was telling the girls on my girls night the other night, I am more satisfied and happy in my marriage now than ever. (I have always been very happy in our marriage!) I just say that to say, I DO NOT take for granted the fact that every day, no matter what ups and downs we are riding, God reminds me,  daily, that I am married to the man He intended for me. That alone gives me a deeper and deeper appreciation for my marriage. And I feel blessed that not only do we love each other and are committed to each other, but we actually like each other- a lot! We no longer see marriage through rose colored glasses. We know what state so many other marriages are in that we both tell each other often how thankful we are for our marriage. We actually had someone stop us in the hall at church last Sunday to tell us how nice it was to see a couple walking through the halls smiling at each other. I share that, not to put on a false pretense that we are perfect (heck no, far from it) but just another instance where I realize my gratefulness for my husband. He is pretty special.

Happy Birthday to the best husband and dad this girl and these kids could ask for. 

You mean the world to all of us!