Every Day with Eli: July 27

Today is Chris' 36th birthday! Because of his surgery, we didn't have anything planned or even a cake baked. But we did go out to breakfast to celebrate!

Birthday breakfast selfie! We started dating when Chris was 18.5 years old, so we are approaching the point in our relationship where we have been together as long as we weren't. It's amazing, and I am so thankful that God gave us each other at such a young age.

I put together this collage of some of my favorite pictures of him, and shared it on Facebook today. The picture on the top right is one of my favorites - when we were first dating and living in different states, I had this picture posted on my wall next to my bed. His curls get me every time.

The photo in the middle left is our senior prom, before we were dating or really even interested in each other.

Bottom left is the day of our college graduation, when we had been married almost 10 months.

We really have grown up together, and we have experienced so much life side-by-side, hand-in-hand. I am thankful.

My mom joined us for breakfast, and then played in the back yard with the kids before joining Daisy and me for Daisy's first real hair cut in a salon.

Mom found a monarch caterpillar somewhere in there! For all the milkweed and butterfly bush we have in our back yard, you would think we'd see more monarchs. We don't, though.

We do see lots of cicadas!

While we were in the back yard, the kids all wanted their pictures taken with Daddy.

This is pre-haircut for Daisy. Her hair was looking a little bit out of control!

I decided to pony up and pay for her to see a "curl specialist" recommended by several friends. Daisy and I have been fighting so much about her hair every day, because she refused to even brush it. I knew we needed someone who could help her come up with a plan.

It turned out that the hair stylist was someone my mom knew from church!

This girl was pretty happy about her situation.

While Daisy sat under the dryer, Mom got her hair shampooed and styled!

Done! You can tell just how special Daisy feels, and I love it.

Instead of heading straight home, we went to one of Chris' favorite restaurants to pick up his favorite sandwich (Claire's Choice) for his birthday lunch. Daisy snuggled with Trixie the pig.

Smokehouse selfie!

When we got home, I took a few photos of Daisy's new hair cut with my big camera.

So much better, right?

I was hoping that the cut would help her curls become a little curlier, but it didn't. However, we spent approximately ten million dollars on hair products, so I am hopeful that we will see more curl return as we continue using it.

In the end, it was worth every penny just to see this girl feel so special.

And then everyone took naps in preparation for the big birthday event: a Cardinals Baseball game! A few months ago the kids won ticket vouchers through our library's summer reading program. It turned out that the vouchers were only available for a select few dates, and Chris' birthday was one of them. Perfect, right?

And then he had the hernia surgery. He is a week post-op today, so until yesterday I wasn't sure if we would be going to the game, or if I'd be begging someone to come with me and help with the kids... Thankfully, Chris was feeling up for it. The forecast said a 10% chance of rain, so we did it. Our one nod to Chris' convalescent state was paying $25 for the best possible parking. (Totally worth it, BTW, especially since we paid less than $20 for our tickets.)

Mom selfie!

(Poor Daisy doesn't have any Cardinals gear in her size, so she had to wear one of Caleb's outgrown muscle shirts. She didn't mind too much.)

Family selfie! (Eli was up and down in my toddler Kinderpack quite a bit, and I had a nice chat about babywearing options with a couple sitting behind us who are foster parents to two young boys. I love sharing the babywearing love!)

Boys.

Gross.

That toothless grin!

And Daisy's stank face!

I love this picture of me with my boy.

It was raining when we walked into the stadium, so the start of the game was delayed. Then it rained again later. 10% chance of rain, my rear. Eventually the game started.