Six Years

So Saturday was our six year anniversary. We both remarked the other day how we're starting to feel like the old married couple. Our friends are still getting married and just starting families and we're feeling like it's all so old hat for us...

I was trying to think of what I could share that we've learned this year about our relationship and maybe the biggest thing is our constant desire to be better spouses to each other. We don't want to settle for the status quo but truly desire to love each other better. It's so easy to say and so much harder to put into practice! What I did notice about both of our anniversary cards to each other was that we both commented about how, six years later, we still look forward to the end of the day when we get to see each other again. No matter how bad the day our highlight is still each other. :-)

As for what we did this year...Howard's parents came up Saturday night and watched the kids so that we could go out to dinner. The time flew by but we had great food and a wonderful time just lingering over a meal instead of rushing or being interrupted by our kids. On Sunday we left the kids with my parents for the day and went to a local burrito joint (did I mention my love of Mexican food!) for lunch and then played a round of miniature golf together. It was nothing serious, no deep discussions, just the two of us enjoying being together. We needed it, benefited from it and have great sixth anniversary memories to look back on. Howard and I both got hole-in-ones so that was pretty cool too.

Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine

We took last Saturday and went to Strasburg, PA for A Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine.

Chase has been looking forward to this since July. I love this picture because it captures perfectly how a little kid feels when they have to wait in line for 20 minutes to do something they've been waiting forever for. :-)

The train ride was a short twenty minutes but Chase loved it. We saw cows, school buses, a donkey, a goat, miniature horses and draft horses on our ride. It was a very exciting twenty minutes to a three year old.

Alexa had fun too, although most of it was spent quite taken with the "babies" (children the same age or slightly older than she is) who were sitting around us. Check out her dimple! We still don't know who it came from although my Aunt Ruth has dimples so maybe it's a recessed gene!

We were in the William McFarlane car. It was quite spiffy and very nice compared to the train ride we took last year.

There were a lot of other activities for the kids to do. Chase loved the Cranky Cars which had to be cranked by hand. He rode this ride three times and loved every second of them.

He had fun trying to race away from daddy!

Howard and the kids are at the back of this mini-train. The train is about 86 years old and still steaming away.

This was one of the vacation days that we had planned this year. It was a beautiful day and we all had a great time. Chase got to pick out a t-shirt and he also got a Thomas the Tank Engine train whistle so that he can imitate the sounds of the trains we were around. He loves both and at bedtime the "poop-poop" of the whistle can be heard now and again.

Labor Day

For us Labor Day meant a chance to have Howard home for a little while. He is in the midst of his busy season at work and our time with him is limited. He is often working six days a week right now and Labor Day weekend was no exception. That he had Sunday and Monday off was wonderful for all of us. We took the kids to a lake that I grew up around and Howard and I spent time together at once we met.

Chase and daddy were trying to spot the fish.

Lexie and I went off to find a good spot to watch the boats launching from the marina.

It was a perfectly beautiful day. The sailboats were out in force and the kids loved watching them all. We waved to everyone launching and they happily waved back making the kids feel like mini celebrities.

We took bread to feed the fish which Chase enjoyed chucking all over.

Alexa hungrily chowed down on the bread (which was going stale) instead of throwing it since she hadn't eaten much breakfast that morning. She was slamming the pieces into her mouth so fast she was barely able to chew!

We took Chase's bike and went for a mile walk/ride down the walking path before coming back for a little more lake time.

Yes, I'm starting to show quite a bit...:-)

We found a small hill that Howard and Chase were running up and down. Alexa didn't want to be left out and she LOVED having daddy run her back and forth.

     We returned home for leftover hotdogs and shrimp on the grill. I'm the only one who eats shrimp and I relished it. I had marinated it in balsamic vinaigrette and then skewered the shrimp for grilling. Chase, who hasn't liked shrimp in the past, asked to try it. We gave him one and he proceeded to try to eat all of mine! He gobbled them down like candy so I had to guard my meal carefully! I was thrilled that he liked them though and I'll be making extra next time.
     Chase keeps asking if I want to go back to the lake again and take his bike to ride. We'll be heading back the first chance we get!

Father's Love Letter

Hit the four arrows in the bottom right to make this full screen. Take the time to watch the whole thing. Hope it blesses you as much as it does me every time I watch it. :-)

Goings On

Here is a brief overview of the last few weeks:

Alexa inherited our smallest tricycle and although she can't reach the pedals all the way around she wants to ride and be pushed on the bike. Her face in the picture is very intense because she is learning the all important skill of steering. She over corrects constantly which is funny and frustrating. We pretty much trace an "S" pattern down the sidewalk as she figures out where to go.

This little man upgraded his wheels to two plus the training wheels courtesy of a great yard sale deal this summer. He's loving the faster speeds and brakes as he's not as brave as he likes to think! ;-) He is already getting better at balancing the bike too.

I had to throw this shot up because I found a pair of adorable sunglasses at The Children's Place on clearance for a buck. I couldn't pass them up!

I have to point out too that besides these adorable jammies she's got our peanut is starting to finally grow quite the head of hair! She's got one awesome curlique in the back and we're hoping for more!

We also planted a much needed shade tree in our back yard and Chase had a blast for a few days playing in the hole daddy was digging for the tree. I couldn't pass up the photo-op and got this shot of him looking half buried in the yard.

We'll be back with more photos and I will get back on track and start posting Window Seat Wanderings again soon!

A great outlook on life

     I got a forward from my in-laws that I thought would be great to share. It's the way I hope I can look at myself as I get older. I don't know who wrote it or I would give them credit here. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
    
     I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend. I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.


     I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.


     Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 &70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love ... I will.


     I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.



     They, too, will get old.


     I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.


     Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.


     I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face.



     So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.


     As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore.



     I've even earned the right to be wrong.


     So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day(if I feel like it).

Announcing...

     I know it probably seems like we've dropped off the map but I promise you we are still here. I haven't been blogging much lately because...we are expecting baby #3!!! I've been so impatient to tell everyone but we were waiting until we were pretty much through the first trimester. It's been a doozy this time so I haven't felt much like getting on the computer at all. Also the reason why the slacking off on the blog. I am (finally!) starting to feel more like myself and since week 12 is official tomorrow we wanted to let everyone in on our joyful secret! Due date is Feb. 11, 2011. We are so excited to meet this final "installment" to our family!