July 31

I've been silent the past few days because there has been a lot of stuff going on!  

We've finally found a new tenant for our old house and signed a lease, Chris is heading out of town for two weeks for the Graduate School of Banking, and - oh yeah - I'm sneaking away with him for the first weekend of it! This will be the first time we've left Daisy or Lily; the last time Chris and I got away without the kids was when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Daisy. That's three and a half years ago. Preparing for everything has taken up a lot of time, and it seems like there are never enough hours in the day!

While Chris and I are away this weekend, we'll celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary. One of my favorite traditions - one that we only started when Caleb was a baby - is visiting the park where we were married and taking family photos. 

Want to take a walk down memory lane with me?

Here's last year - 2013

And the year before - 2012 (it was our 10th anniversary!)

And the year before that - 2011

And the year before that - 2010

I am so, so blessed to have several very talented photographers who love me very, very much. In 2012, my dear friend Amber took pictures for us. This year, my friend Sara agreed to help us. Despite the fact that she's a teacher, and today was her second day back at work for the school year. Despite the fact that her husband was stuck at work, and she had to bring her 9-year-old and 5-year-old boys with her.

And then? She stayed up late editing pictures, and sent me a few of her favorites. I'm so excited about them that I'm staying up late blogging, just to share them with you.

This girl. She is such an affectionate little imp, and this picture captures it perfectly.

This one pretty well sums up our family. Definitely not perfect, but a whole lot of love, and a whole lot of fun.

Goodness. Aren't they adorable? We are so blessed to be their parents!

Black and white?

Or color?

How about both? 

Caleb specifically requested a picture of me holding him, because his shirt matched my dress and necklace perfectly. I love that boy.

I know, right? 

But wait - here's my favorite: 

Even our wedding photographer twelve years ago didn't capture a moment like that. I have some talented friends, people.

And a really fantastic husband. I think I'll keep him. Happy (early) anniversary to us!

July 28

Yesterday was a long and busy day for us, but sweet Lily still woke up at five this morning. Luckily, she made up for it by taking a three-hour nap this morning. When she woke up, Caleb and Daisy were playing in the back yard while I made their lunch. I set Lily down in the kitchen so I could finish making lunches, but she was not happy. Lunch had to be made, though, so I got back to work while she fussed. Gradually, the fussing stopped, and I heard her crawl down the hallway.

Then there was silence.

Eventually, I grew concerned and stepped into the other room to look for her. 

Our big screen door had been pushed open, and there was Lily, happily sitting out on the deck, watching her brother and sister play. I stuck my head out the door, and she cheerily called out, "HI!"

Funny girl.

Soon, she wasn't content to sit and watch anymore, so she crawled off to play in the grass.

Luckily, I caught her before she hit those steps!

After lunch, Daisy grabbed a pen and began drawing on the newspaper. As she drew, she narrated: "This is Daddy's work. It's faaaar away. Here is the lake. It has a beach and sand and water. Here is Naomi's mommy's house. That's Iowa, and there's the hotel where we stayed."

Caleb chimed in, "Is Oregon on your map?"

Daisy: "Yes. Or-ven is right here. And here is our house, and Texas is waaaay over here."

My sweet little girl! Can't you tell by looking at it that she's drawn her first map? It has all the special places we've been or talked about. Also, I love that she's pointing her index finger because she has an owie on it. Band-aids only last an hour or so with her, before she declares that her owie is all better because God healed it!

What a special little thing she is.

July 27

Today was Chris' 33rd birthday, and after Caleb and Lily's birthdays, I was just about birthdayed out. I didn't have any presents for the poor guy, but I managed to make him a birthday cake and put together a special picnic dinner. Our plan for the day was to attempt to find 33 birthday cakes, in honor of his 33rd birthday. Do you remember how we found 3 cakes for Daisy's 3rd birthday, 5 cakes for Caleb's 5th, and 1 cake for Lily's 1st? Knowing it would be a challenge with the three kiddos in tow, we decided to attempt 33 cakes in one day.

Spoiler alert: we did it, and it was awesome! Prepare yourself for 8 million pictures. (Okay, really it's only 46 pictures. But that's still a ton of pictures.)

Cake #1

The kids really liked the giant shoe, made of shoes! Daisy was trying to fit her foot inside one of them.

Cake #2 - Grandpa used to work here!

Cake #3

Cake #4

Cake #5

Cake #6

This bench, featuring a lion strumming a guitar, was near Cake #6. Lily loved sitting in the lion's lap!

Daisy gave the lion a big hug, so Chris hugged him, too.

Cake #7.

Right after this was poopy diaper #1

Cake #8 Everyone is still in good spirits.

Cake #9 had Darth Vader and Superman on it!

Cake #10. Then things began to head downhill. Daisy started crying that her feet hurt, and she was right. It was 93 degrees out, and sweaty feet + jellies = painful blisters on the arches of both feet. Plus, even though it was only 3:45, everyone was hungry.

A quick stop at a FroYo shop helped a little bit. 

yum.

See? Not crying. For five minutes, at least. Daisy was such a wreck that Chris and I almost considered quitting after 10 cakes. But we soldiered on.

Cake #11

Cake #12 (Daisy is missing because she was still being whiny and fussy and uncooperative.

Cake #13

Still no Daisy. Also, Caleb seems to be missing. But we gained an elephant, so that's something?

Cake #14. Daisy? Daisy??? And again with that elephant!

Cake #15 - You can kind of tell how I fixed up Daisy's feet. I applied Hello Kitty bandages to each foot, then found a pair of fuschia socks in Lily's diaper bag. Miraculously, they fit Daisy's feet perfectly. Even better, they (mostly) stopped the fussing.

Cake #16

This place was beautiful!

Aren't they sweet?

Cake #17

You can see the pink socks + jellies combo really well here. But all three kids are cooperating! At this point, we got the stroller out and walked to the next 7 cakes. That was a good choice.

Cake #18

Caleb?

Cake #19

Cake #20

This was when Caleb and Daisy started fighting and arguing in the BOB. Caleb was trying to talk, but Daisy kept shouting the Darth Vader music from Star Wars at the top of her lungs, right in Caleb's ear.

Cake #21

Caleb is shell-shocked from Daisy's shouting.

Then we saw a Lamborghini!

Cake #22

Cake #23

Finally, time for dinner! I packed a picnic of Chris' favorite things, and Caleb chose a lovely spot in the shade. The kids were so happy to eat!

I love the look on Lily's face as she munches on gouda cheese.

Cake #24

I really wanted to take a sweet picture, but they really wanted to be goofy. So it goes.

Cake #25

Cake #26

Don't you love that elephant mask, on the cake with elephants on the bottom?

Cake #27

There was a wedding reception happening here.

Cake #28

poopy diaper #2

Cake #29

Caleb preferred to collect and throw pinecones.

Cake #30

Daisy had to go pee.

Cake #31

They got lucky and found a bathroom.

Cake #32

We drove the same parking circle three times before finding this one.

Finally! Cake #33!

The kids knew that real birthday cake was their reward, and they were so excited!

Hooray! We did it!

By this point, it was past bedtime and we had been hunting cakes for over five hours. They were done.

But birthday cake fixes everything, and Caleb and Daisy snuggled up to Chris and sang, "Happy Birthday" to him. He loved it.

Then they helped him blow out the candles.

It was exhausting, it was insane, it was frustrating, and it was so much fun. Happy birthday to the man I am blessed to call my husband! I love our wacky adventures together!