And today we celebrate...

10 years ago I said, "I do" to this man.
He's pretty amazing, if I do say so myself.
We agree that we'd do it all over again in a heartbeat, if it was still to each other.
We think on the same brain wave length pretty frequently.
I think that's ridiculously cool.
I know his likes and dislikes better than my own.
We don't fight very much any more.
Discuss? yes. Heatedly? eh, some. Disagree? occasionally. Out right fight? It's been a long time.
I think he looks even better now than he did 10 years go.
We've learned an incredible amount of things together and grown in that knowledge.
Somehow, we've even discovered and developed interests and hobbies in the same things along the way.
He stands by me and gives me his support in even the craziest situations.
Some days his analytical-problem-seeking-and-solving-brain drives me berserk but most of the time, I can only say "Thank you Jesus for making this man the way he is!"
He can look at something going on in our life from an unemotional view point and see it so much clearer than I can.
He thinks it's awesome that he's converted me to bell peppers and kind of to mushrooms.
I can trust his gut instinct every time.
Most of our detailed conversations happen in the kitchen while we're cooking.
But our in-depth soul-bearing heart-breaking moments usually take place late at night, lying in bed. And there's usually a small child lying in between us. 
We dance in the kitchen almost daily.
We always hold hands in the car.
I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that he's right 98% of the time.
Hence why I do a Snoopy dance and write it down when it's the other 2% of the time.
He disagrees with the above statement. :)
We both think we are introverts, not sure how we ever managed to talk to each other in the 1st place.
We aren't perfect by any means, but even with all the tough stuff, life is pretty sweet.
We're definitely looking forward to the next 70-some years together.

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May 2012 {10 on 10}

This months 10 on 10 was challenging, but full of memories. We were on vacation for a week in the Smokey Mountains with Mike's parents.It was a full but fun day. One I know that our girls will remember and talk about for years. A few of the pictures were taken by Mike's mom as I was not allowed to have my camera during part of the day. And this month, no consecutive hours. I had a tendency to take a whole bunch for 1 or 2 hours and then be busy (or in the car) for an hour or so.
Oh well, it was our day!

 9am - yes, we slept till 9am! 

Must have been a combination of the king size bed, 

 the roaring creek right outside our windows, and the pitch black nighttime. 

All things we are unused to in our subdivision home.

We also had this little visitor crawl in bed with us, unbeknownst to us until we woke up.

 11am - breakfast on the balcony overlooking the creek

 12pm - Samuel, ready to go!

 2pm - Olivia on her 1st horse ride.

 3pm - Samuel and Grandpa looking at the pond, 

waiting for us to get back from our horse ride.

 4pm - Olivia sifting gemstones

 5pm - Samuel, after splashing in the water slough.

6pm - dinner at a local wood-fired brick oven pizzeria.

  8pm - momma's dessert, vanilla ice cream 

topped with crunchy peanut butter and homemade granola

 9pm - one very tired little man.

Spring time Celebrating

This past week, we were very generously given free tickets to go see a local ballet company's Spring Time Celebration performance. The Robert Ivey Ballet Company is a long-time dance studio in the Charleston area (they are celebrating their 35th year!) and it was definitely a treat to take my girls. They were especially delighted to go, since they still very vividly remember The Nutcracker ballet from Christmas-time and enjoyed it so thoroughly.

We were a bit late, missing the 1st two dances, due to my misspelling of the street we were supposed to be on. Thankfully James Island is only a hop across the river to downtown Charleston! But the next performance had my girls glued to their seats and eyes on the stage. It just so happened to be a dance preformed by  the Company dancers.
This was a real live ballerina friends! Pointe shoes, white tutu, hair in bun, grown-up ballerina.
The dance was amazingly beautiful as were all of the following acts by the  Company members.
We had fun watching the Junior Company dancers with their Michael Buble and Enya numbers. I had to laugh that my nine year old recognized both songs.

After a short intermission we were treated to a performance of the third act of Coppelia by the Company, Junior Company, and Children's Company. Around 40 dancers all on stage! The girls loved seeing the folk costumes and ohhh-ed and ahhh-ed over the tiny little girl who played as the mechanical doll.
It was a very lovely introduction to classical ballet and the story-telling that it does.

Many thanks to the Robert Ivey Ballet Company for inviting us to come and giving our entire family tickets.
I know it will be a sweet memory for my girls in years to come! Photos are curtsey of Sudie Alexander.

Birthday Questions - Olivia turning 9

Birthday Questions - Olivia turning 9

{Olivia got a camera for her birthday this year. It takes video, so you guys may actually get to see an occasional video of us now! }

This is a video of our annual birthday questions for Olivia, inspired by my friend Chelle. I thought it would be fun to share. Especially for grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins who are far away.

Hope you enjoy it.

Vintage Sewing Party - Olivia turns 9

For Olivia's birthday to celebrate turning 9, we decided on the theme of sewing and it quickly morphed into a vintage sewing party, since we both have strong affections for the vintage side of life. :) It was a lot of fun and truly, the details make all the difference. Buttons tied on with twine, lace doilies around, polka dotted straws, and button shaped lollipops. We kept it small, with just 6 friends to be dropped off at our house. That was a big deal, because Olivia has never had a drop-off party before, but it it seemed to be the best way and made all of the detail work possible
We decided to have the girls make an initial embroidery hoop with felt and then embellish it with felt flowers and buttons. They turned out amazingly well. A few of our girls had never seen an embroidery hoop or held a needle while others were more knowledgeable, so it was very fun to see where they all ended up. Even Sadie-Rose joined in and stitched her initial onto her own hoop. Pretty good for a 4 year old we thought.
After sewing our hoops (and rethreading needles about 85 times) we decided to take a break and play a couple games. We played several rounds of "Button, Button, where is the Button" and then played hoop toss with the spools of serger thread and embroidery hoops. Then it was time for cake and ice cream and lemonade. After the fun of all of the sugar (they also ate button shaped chocolate lollipops) we opened presents and cards. We then came back to the table and made elastic button bracelets. While we were finishing those up, our parents arrived and it was a quick pick-out-your-pincushion-and-drop-a-lolli-in-the-bag-grab-your-hoop-and-out-the-door-marathon of 5 little girls.

 The invitations, pinked along the edges, hand written, and buttons tied on with twine. Sewn up in waxed paper enveloped and {most} hand delivered.

 The table was set out with vintage milk glass, pyrex, mason jars, and threads.

Sorry several of these look blurry. Blogger has messed them up in the loading process somehow as they look fine in my photo editing program. :(

 My grandmother, who was here visiting, did all the flower arranging which turned out lovely.

Olivia picked out the flowers at the store. She said she was going for a "pink roses/vintage/ country flowers type feel." I think she accomplished her mission with our limited choices. :) 

 Threads and embellishments ready for creative minds and small hands.

 

Our hoops with their pre-cut initials.

 

We used Olivia's great great grandmother's treadle sewing machine and table for our food display. Her great grandmother's china was used as well as a vintage cakestand we found a couple months ago. Hung on the wall and on the mannequin were vintage patterns that were her grandmother's and a few thrifted ones as well. (Again, blogger messed up the photo quality on these! Arg!)

Our 3 layer Neapolitan cake. All 3 layers made from scratch and it was sooooo yummy.  The cake flags were made from the leftover papers of her invitations and various sized skewers.

Sparkling raspberry lemonade to drink.

The party favors. Pincushions from vintage sheets and button shaped chocolate lollipops.

The front door was decorated with a paper banner and vintage sheets hearts on the door and my dress makers mannequin with vintage fabric and patterns.

It was a lovely day, everything went without a hitch, and Olivia was beyond thrilled with it which, in the end, is all that really matters. I am more than thankful that my grandmother was here visiting for O's birthday and was the most amazing help to me ever. There were one or two nights we were up until 11:30 or so, tying twine and cutting felt. I could never have done it without her. She washed all the dishes for each set of cakes (that would be 3 9" cake pans and 3 pans of cupcakes plus all the bowls and beaters and the frosting stuff too) which is a total labor of love and that's barely the tip of the iceberg.
I'm glad that we were able to have a celebration that reflected a lot of Olivia's personality and interests and celebrates the amazing young lady that she is. 9 years have sped by lightening quick and I'm sure the next 9 will as well. And though I never would have thought it possible to love her more than I did when she was born and laid in my arms for the 1st time, it is true. I love her more now and can't imagine life without her.