take one and take two

Today is a very special day. It's our Grandpa Dog's birthday. And we hope it is a great day. We love you a whole bunch Dog and wish we could be with you in Kansas to celebrate today.


There we go.

umm..thank you

Tonight Tyler and I were invited to eat dinner at JWU by a student for class. We went and ate a delicious three course meal served to us by students and made by students. Just one of the many perks of being a wife of a campus minister at a fine culinary academy. I have been really excited about this dinner all week, ever since we were invited. Tyler met me there and said he was dressing "business casual" and that the other students that would be dining with us would be in their chef whites. So, I dressed up. I met Tyler at the school and walked in and sat down with him and another student. My sweet husband says, "you look great" and the student chimes in "yeah.. you look unusually un-momlike." What can I say I'll take a compliment any way I can get it.

"Happy ba-boh to me"

Maggie's birthday weekend was a blast even though it rained and rained. We headed to Chick-fil-a (or "moo" as Maggie likes to call it) for lunch on Saturday with a few buddies. We took over the back section and put six tables together so we could par-tay toddler style. We didn't get a chance to play on the outdoor playground due to the rain, but we had fun dining on some fine chicken cuisine nonetheless.

Here is Maggie playing the gracious hostess and greeting her first guest, Caleigh, with a hug.
I was going to make a "snow-mine" cake for Maggie seeing as how she loves to eat snowman shaped pancakes, but at the last minute she decided Elmo would be better. And, she was right. We sort of had an Elmo theme going with the hats and the Elmo juice boxes. So, an Elmo cookie cake was the only way to go really.
Here is one of our VIP guests. He makes that Elmo hat look mighty good...don't you think?
We made ourselves right at home. Taking over Chick-fil-a wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I think we have two parties going on in this pic.
This is one of my favorite pictures. I love how close Tyler is as he videotapes his birthday girl in action. What a sweet Daddy.
Grandma and Poppa came up on Saturday and stayed the night with us. Maggie was so glad to have them here for the big event. Here she is giving Poppa a very very long hug. She loves this man, and I must admit I do too.
Sunday was Maggie's actual birthday, so we started it off with some birthday monkey bread and cantaloupe before church.
After church Maggie enjoyed opening even more presents! Ahhh...it's good to be two.
And, finally here she is enjoying her new princess tent. The past hours, since March 15th, have been spent going in and out of this little pink hide away.

We are so thankful for our sweet little two year old. I can't believe how big she is getting. We are so blessed by her and are so thankful that the Lord has entrusted us with His sweet little lamb. Our prayer, almost nightly, is that the Lord would give us wisdom in guiding her through this life and most importantly towards Him. As happy as she was on her birthday, and in celebrating with friends, I know that true happiness is only found in a real relationship with Jesus Christ. So, I pray that she will find just that as she continues to grow year after year.

Edventure pics

Here is the link to my sisters blog if you want to check out the pictures from our Edventure.
http://expandingtylers.blogspot.com/

Somebody is turning two on sunday!

We are up to our ears in birthday preparations for Maggie's big day this weekend (actual birthday sunday..celebrating with friends on saturday). So, here's a little taste of the cuteness that will be going on all weekend long. Maggie is a little distracted in the video, she is about to watch Elmo and that menu page is so intriguing.

sew good

Sew, I've been going a little crazy lately with this sewing business. I love it, it is so relaxing and fun. Here are a few of my latest creations. I made quasi-matching outfits for Henry and Maggie out of some very cheap material. I kind of think Henry's outfit is somewhat clown-like, but he's a baby and can pull it off. I really enjoy making matching outfits, I never thought I'd be that mom, but I totally am. I think my college buddies saw it coming when I used to wear Christmas pins around the holidays. What can I say I love cheesy.

The two adorable clothing models.
And, this is the "fifteen minute"dress, that Lindsey M. inspired with a forward. It is two bandanas sewed together with ribbon at the top...brilliance. It kind of lays funny, but it's cute and gets a lot of compliments at the post office. And, someone out there may or may not be getting a matching one, I'm not saying who Lucy.

distance makes the heart grow fonder...

Sorry for the slacking on my blogging lately. It's been pretty crazy around here, Tyler was gone to Peru on the RUF missions trip all last week and I was home with two kiddos. Life was just a little wild without my better half. But, we managed to make it through in one piece, Tyler and his missions team, and me and my munchkin crew. Tyler left on February 28th and that just so happened to be one of the busiest days (two parents or one) of the month. We had a birthday party in the morning and I co-hosted a baby shower in the afternoon. Okay the fact that their was only one of me did make that day the busiest. We also headed to Columbia towards the end of the week for some time with Grandma Dot, Grandma, Poppa, Aunt Christine, Uncle John and cousin Brody. I didn't have my camera so if my sister sends me any pics (or if she posts some on her blog that I can steal) I will post them. We played a whole lot of tea party and even ventured to EdVenture during our time there. We packed in a bunch in an effort to distract us from missing our daddy (it didn't work bc we still missed him a whole lot). However we survived and we thank the Lord for His graciousness to our family throughout the week, both here in the States and in Peru.
One of the most creative things I have done in my life (that I didn't even come up with on my own...so I guess not so creative but rather the most crafty). A cake for the baby shower.
My munchkin crew...Maggie actually wanted to hold Henry. She loves her little brother but for some reason is not big on holding him.
I had to take a picture of this...can you guess what she's doing? The wee baby doll is suckling from Maggie's belly button of course. How else do you think baby's eat?

Some of the missions team in Peru. Twelve members total.

At one of the work sites. Those huts in the background are actual homes typical for a family of around five. Can you imagine? I thought we had a small place. Check out www.jwu.ruf.org/ for more pics. God is really at work on this campus and this missions trip is just one indicator of how He is softening hearts and revealing Himself in ways that many of our students have never experienced. Thank you to all of you out there who supported the team. God is good and moving at JWU.
My studdly surfer dude ridin' the waves of the Pacific Ocean. They spent one afternoon at the beach and one day in Lima before they headed back to the US.

And of course what trip isn't complete without some coming home presents. A couple days shy of our third winter storm in Charlotte Maggie and Henry received these fabulous snow hats. Too bad on saturday it was 80. Maybe we'll get a few more cold days this year so the gang can flaunt their fabulous head gear, but they will for sure next winter.