August 2

Today Chris and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary! He surprised me with these flowers last night:

This morning he picked up some coffee from my favorite spot, and then he went off to work and we went about our day. A MOPS playdate got rained out, but we ended up going to the park anyway because I accidentally told the kids about it. Whoops.

As we left our neighborhood, I remembered that it was election day! Chris and I researched candidates last night, so I made a quick turn into our polling place so that we could go cast our vote in the primary.

I tried to explain primaries to the kids, but then decided it was too complicated. Still, our polling place is very kid-friendly, and the kids love joining me to vote. A few of the poll workers remembered us from last time, and the kids once again got to cast their ballots for all sorts of offices. As we left, we had to take the mandatory "babywearing-at-the-polls" selfie, because it's what we do. Oh, and I got two "I voted" stickers, because the worker said I had definitely earned it. 

It's nice to be appreciated.

Then we headed to the playground, where the kids had a blast. I was so impressed at their ability to play independently, be brave in places that used to scare them, and still be cautious. Several times I looked up to see Lily looking like a 7-year-old. She is such a big girl! Even Eli rocked the playground, though I don't trust him enough yet to let him more than three feet from me.

Back home, we tried out our second carry in the August babywearing challenge. The challenge I joined focuses on single-layer carries that are cooler in hot weather. Today's was Front Traditional Sling Carry.

I love this picture: Eli's grin, my gorgeous wrap, those little fingers wrapped around his sippy cup...

I'm proud of myself for finally figuring out the slipknot, and embarrassed it has taken me this long.

Caleb and I filled the afternoon with baking. We baked a birthday cake for Jenny's birthday tomorrow, and made 3 dozen chocolate zucchini muffins from a giant zucchini my mom gave us. (The 3 dozen muffins only used 1/5 of the zucchini. I had to freeze the rest of it. And a second zucchini will be dinner later this week.)

Caleb read directions to me and measured ingredients. As we baked, I reminded him that he and I have been baking together since he was a toddler. I love that it's something we share! One thing that has always bothered him, though, is getting his hands messy. Between his sensory issues and his fine motor issues, cracking eggs is something he has never been able to do. 

Today, though, he decided he would learn. It was a good day to learn, too, because between the cake and the muffins, we used a dozen eggs. He smashed a few, then watched me, then practiced some more, and finally got it! To celebrate, I showed him how to blow the yolk out of an egg. Then I turned the eggshell into a trophy for him.

It says "#1 Egg Cracker" and his name, with a star on the top pinhole. 

You would have thought it was a Nobel Prize. The kid was pumped.

Goodness. If I had known a hollowed-out egg would have made him so happy, I would have made at least 74 of them. 

Showing off the star.

Then Chris got home, we gathered the kids, and hopped in the van for an anniversary celebration. My mom wasn't available to watch the kids tonight, so we decided to have a family date. Luckily, the garden had a special member's evening tonight, so we decided to do that.

Family selfie in the elevator ceiling!

The kids ate their dinner in the van on the way to the garden, and as soon as we got there we stopped in at the restaurant for some grown-up food. We sat on the patio and the children behaved like wild animals (seriously, it was kind of embarrassing) while Chris and I ate and tried to pretend like we didn't know who the little ruffians were. 

I suppose that's what 14 years of marriage looks like.

Then we explored the garden, which felt especially magical and special in the evening. It's my new favorite thing.

We had every spot almost entirely to ourselves. When it was time to feed the koi fish, the kids had their undivided attention.

I'm not going to lie: Eli ate several pieces of fish food. I'm assuming they won't harm him. Once he figured out it was food for fish, and not Eli, he really enjoyed the process!

We left the garden when it closed at 8, and didn't get our little hooligans to bed until 9:30. Whatever. It was lovely and special and perfect.

Are you waiting to see our family anniversary picture from the other day? Here it is:

 I think this is our official one.

But I also love this one, particularly how Caleb is looking up at us in disgust.

And another cute one.

There's only so much I'm capable of doing with my tripod and remote, so they are all kind of the same, with varying degrees of cooperation from the children. I still absolutely prefer the ones done by a real-life photographer, but these will definitely suffice.

Do you want to reminisce? I do. Here are previous years' pictures, with links.

2015

Caleb - 6, Daisy - 4, Lily - 2, Eli - 6 months

2014

Caleb - 5, Daisy - 3, Lily - 12 months, 10 weeks pregnant with Eli

2013

Caleb - 4, Daisy - 2, Lily - 2 weeks

2012

Caleb - 3, Daisy - 15 months

2011

Caleb - 2, Daisy - 2 months

2010

Caleb - 13 months

2002

Our wedding day! We married at 21, so we were on a five-year plan for babies. We had with a list of goals to accomplish before we started a family, and that list stayed on our refrigerator until 2008, when we finally decided we were ready. 

I couldn't remember exactly what was on it, but I managed to crop this image from another picture from May 2008:

Goals

(by age 30)

- buy small, cute house

- Carrie masters degree

- pay off student loans

- buy 4-family flat

-babies

And you know what? We did all of them except for the 4-family flat! What we really wanted was investment property, and in His wisdom God had already given it to us when we bought that small, cute house. We just didn't know it at the time.

Isn't it fun to think about how far we've come in 14 years? I am so thankful that the story of our marriage is a story of God's endless grace and provision.