Flower Girl

About a month ago Craig was honored to be the best man in a good friends wedding. Although Anna wasn't REALLY the flower girl, it was only the second wedding she'd been to, and she had a good time getting all prettied up for the event.

She even went outside and picked flowers for me to put in her hair.

She was completely captivated by the "princesses" aka bridesmaids, and of course the bride herself. She could hardly leave the bride alone during the reception. She was very much in her element.
Here's our handsome daddy with his little "flower girl". And, if you happen to need a real flower girl, I'm sure Anna would be more than willing to play the part :)

Makin' the coffee

Most mornings I wake up to these two....

Makin' the coffee.
Anna is often our earliest bird. During the school year Craig let her help him make the coffee one morning. Now, it has become a routine, in her mind. Every night before bed she reminds daddy about their coffee makin' ritual. It's a special, sweet little tradition between the two of them, that just warms my heart.

Not to mention my coffee cup.

Better than diamonds

Craig and I went out last night to celebrate our anniversary. He had been gone for two days on a school field trip and I was really looking forward to our date. It was wonderful. I can't believe it's been 11 years since we said, "I do". At 20 and 21 we were so young, but we didn't really know it then. I look back on how we've both grown and changed so much, and I honestly can say I love him so much more today than I did on that day 11 years ago. Back then I thought my heart would burst with the amount of love I had for him. But it just keeps growing and growing.

It's awesome how God will bless a marriage when we seek His wisdom. I don't deserve this wedded bliss and I certainly don't deserve a man this wonderful, but God has blessed me, and it makes my eyes fill with tears.

Craig said he had something for me, just a little thing, and I jokingly said, "something little, huh, just a diamond ring?" As we sat on the park bench and watched the water go by he read me a TOP 11 List of the reasons he loved me. After he was finished I had a huge lump in my throat, and he said, "ya it's no diamond ring...." and I replied, "that was better than a diamond ring".

And it was.

V-day

I have a confession to make (in case you didn't already know). I married a man who doesn't cook. Thankfully, I love that chore, and would much rather be cooking dinner after a long day while he entertains the kids. Cooking is therapeutic for me and I'm so glad God thought to pair me up with this guy who will wrestle with the kids while I'm in the kitchen.

I shouldn't go without saying that Craig is an awesome BBQer and he can make a mean bowl of cereal (according to Wyatt). However the last time he cooked me dinner was approximately 12 years ago when we were dating in college, and he attempted a recipe for Spare Ribs. The recipe called for red wine and being he was about 19 at the time and didn't have access to red wine, he substituted the red wine for, get this ladies.......RED WINE VINEGAR. Lets just say ribs simmered in a cup of red wine vinegar end up tasting, well, very vinegary.

So, when he suggested that we cook together for our Valentines dinner, I was shocked, but also thought it sounded like a fun idea. I can't remember when or if we have ever cooked together....perhaps in our early marriage years when we didn't have little ones to entertain. We talked about making something fun, something we'd really like, but something the kids probably wouldn't eat since they'd be in bed anyway. We realized several years ago that we both love Thai food and we were given this humongous Thai cookbook (seriously 4 inches wide) which we have never made anything from. We decided on a pretty simple recipe for Cashew Chicken. After the kids went to bed we started cooking. I started coconut rice and Craig cut up the chicken. I chopped veggies and Craig stir fried. The end result was pretty tasty....I think we may be on to something here. I'm already pouring over this baby deciding which recipe we'll try next. I just had to take a picture to prove how ginormous this thing is!

Hope your V-day was lovely. I also got another personalized CD from my sweetie with a note explaining why he chose each song. I 'm sure I have already listened to it a dozen times. I love that guy, and his red wine vinegar. :)

a sweet moment

Last night the boys went to bed early and Craig took Anna to the store to pick up something I needed. When they got home I was busy cleaning the kitchen, but I heard their hushed voices in the other room. So I peaked around the corner and saw this:

I had to grab my camera because it was just too cute. Anna absolutely LOVES having her nails painted....and daddy did her fingers AND her toes!
BTW....Craig is an excellent nail painter. I usually pick a light color and quickly brush it on making sure each nail has a little color, but he's a perfectionist and takes his time. He even used hot pink!

What a dad!