Kayaking

Holy cow, Dave and I had the most awesome time yesterday kayaking in Shem Creek and the Charleston Harbor.
It was the MOST WONDERFUL TIME my husband and I have had in such a long time. It is so awesome to be outdoors and just truly enjoy what God has created. I have to admit I was a little nervous at first but it was so much fun!!!!!!!!!
We left Shem Creek (where I would like to build my dream house one day -- any donations gladly accepted - ) and headed for the Charleston harbor. We saw the most beautiful animals ever (for those of you who don't know, I absolutely love dolphins!!!) and they were swimming right beside us. One brought it's head up right next to us and I got to see such a beautiful profile complete with an eye that I swear was looking right at me We then went out further into the harbor and made it all the way to Fort Sumter - I must say there was one time there where we were in the middle of about 4 motorized boats, one happening to be the humongous freight boat that carries stuff to the port, and we were a wee bit worried since the waves were getting pretty choppy thanks to all our large, could run us over in heartbeat, friends. We just paddled through some tough surf and it was such a smooth amazing experience - even the owners of the place where we rented the gear were impressed that 2 first-timers went out as far as we did. After the harbor, we made it back into Shem Creek and leisurely paddled through the marsh - I will say I have much more of an appreciation for the beauty of it now!!
We made our way back to the rental place and had a great lunch at the Shem Creek Bar and Grill and headed home to the most comfortable bed (at least it seemed to be after that) ever and slept peacefully reminded and rocked to sleep by the waves of our memories of the day (LOLOL - yeah, that was pretty sappy but good, huh???)
This was such a perfect day - It is so amazing to me that God truly blessed me with the most awesome best friend/husband ever!! We just enjoy spending time together no matter what we are doing but we both agreed this was the best!!

Missing Them...

Well, I think I am finally caught up. After the wedding, Dave and I left the kids up north to spend time with their grandparent, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. It has been a bittersweet time for Dave and I as we miss them terribly but are very much enjoying some private, quality time together. Daily and sometimes twice daily phone calls have become the highlights of our day. We miss them so much! We love you Andrew and Kira!!!!!!

J and Bek's Wedding

And The Two Shall Become One...

May 24th was a day I am sure Jonathan Russell and Rebecca Maccarelli will never forget since it is the day the two of them became united together in Christ through marriage. I must say for me the highlight was seeing the 2 most adorable kids as ring bearer and flower girl ;) Yes, my children were in the wedding and what an honor it was for us to play a part in this beautiful union. Andrew made us kinda laugh because he did not understand why he had to hold a "girly pillow". We explained to him that this was a very special part and that all boys (including Uncle Free who did it at mommy and daddy's wedding) hold a pillow like this. He felt much better knowing that my brother had done it for us - hehe. Kira Rose, as usual, stole a piece of the show. Last year at my cousin Krystal's wedding Kira was walking down the aisle and throwing the petals beautifully. The problem was that she ran out of petals. About 2/3 of the way down the aisle, she threw her hands up in the air turned around and yelled that she was all out of petals and had to go back for more. We actually coaxed her to come the rest of the way down the aisle and that it was ok. She remembered this when she was asked to play the part of flower girl again at J's wedding. She even told me that she would be careful to not throw so many petals that she would run out. This wedding was going to be different! No way would she add a little extra flair to this wedding. Well, if you know my daughter, she always has a way of grabbing some of the attention. This time she did beautiful, walked down the aisle, throwing her petals beautifully. I thought we did it, we made it down the aisle and no funny shenanigans had taken placel. Well not so with my daughter, this time she had extra petals left in the basket and she decided to turn her basket over at the end of the aisle and dump them. Yes, there were many laughs once again at the pretty little flower girl.
We had such a good time heading home and visiting with our families. It is always such a special time to go home and see the people you love. Here are some of the fun pics of the great time we had while we were there.

God is good!

A few days after Dave was released from the hospital, we made our way up to Pennsylvania for the wedding of Jon and Bek Russell. Of course Dave was not able to drive so I was the one driving the whole way. After about 9 hours on the road, the SUV started jerking. Dave, resting oh so comfortably in the back asked me what was going on so I told him. He told me to hit the gas and see what happens - I did and the car hit 90 mph. (Yes, you can call me speed racer if you would like.) Nothing happened, so that was good news since Dave had thought maybe the fuel pump was clogged. Well, unfortunately our good news did not last because about 2 minutes later, the truck started sputtering again but this time when I hit the gas, all that was happening was that the spedometer needle was heading in a downward direction. We made it over to the side of the road and then, capooey - the truck was dead! Uggghh, we have 2 sleeping children in the car, a wounded husband, and a wife that does not know a lick about cars. Oh and did I mention it is 1:00 in the morning and we are in the middle of what looked like a deserted highway except for the few wandering travelers (cars) that we would occasionally see somewhere in the state of Delaware??????? WooHoo, thank goodness we have AAA. About 1/2 hr later a tow truck with an extended cab came, loaded all 4 of us in the cab, hooked the SUV up, and drove us to Dave's parents in Pennsylvania. What a night. Unfortunately that same day, we heard that Dave's mom was admitted to the hospital for an ulcer on her foot (she is a diabetic). Oh and in case I forgot to tell you, the transmission went on the car just a couple of weeks before we headed to the hospital with Dave. Even through all of this, God is so good to us. He protected us on the highway, allowed Dave to make the trip with us, and allowed us to get the truck fixed in time to head back home to South Carolina after the wedding. Since this is a late post, we were able to get the transmission fixed on the car too once we got back home. God has held us in His hand through all of this. Now, I will admit that going through all of this was not exactly fun at the time and quite stressful for sure, but I thank the Lord for his constant love and faithfulness to our family even when we don't deserve it. As for the wedding, it was such a beautiful day of commitment and God's wonderful gift of marriage!!

Mommy's Day Celebration at School

Andrew had a sweet mommy's day celebration at school the day of Dave's surgery. It was sort of a crazy day. I took the kids to school and then rushed back to the hospital to be with Dave just before his surgery, was able to stay at the hospital just in time to get the update and results from the surgeon and then rush off again to enjoy my son at his program. It is always so amazing to see him light up when I come to see him at school. He just beamed when I walked in the door to his classroom. Here are some really sweet shots of him singing - it is music to my ears. You could hear Andrew above the rest sometimes singing his heart out! It is just too awesome. We shared some ice cream afterwards - it was so fun. What was really funny is that his teacher Mrs. Haymaker had the kids answer a questionnaire about their mommy. The highlight for me (or should I say one of the most embarassing parts for me) was when they asked what your mommy's favorite thing to do is and what is their least favorite thing to do. For the former, Andrew answered sleep (haha - I do work nights you know) and then the latter question was answered by Andrews reply of wake up --- LOLOLOL. He cracked up when the teacher read his replies. It just makes me smile to hear him laugh. Thank you Andrew for a wonderful celebration of me :) It is a true honor and pleasure to be called your mom!

Dave's Injury

For those of you who don't know, Dave practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He loves it. It means so much to him and we have met such wonderful friends from where he trains. Unfortunately when there is strenuous activity, there can be injury. Dave had been in a competition about 9 months earlier and a very large man's (yes, even much larger than Dave) knee landed right on the side of Dave's leg. For months, it would swell up every so often and then go back to normal in a couple of days. Not so this month.....
The day at the beach was a fun day but also the day that Dave's injury came to a head so to speak. He had told me the night before (I was actually not home so I did not get to see it) that it had swelled up and was very red. Of course, I was worried.....
To make a long story short, Dave wound up spending a week in the hospital on IV antibiotics and then having surgery to remove the infected mass from his leg. Uggghhhh, needless to say it was a tough week. The kids missed their dad and I spent all day at the hospital, would pick up the kids from school, let them visit with their daddy and then go home and do homework and housework, put the kids to bed and do it all the next day. The most wonderful thing is that friends would help with the children and let me spend some extra time with Dave. Thank you so very much to Dekle and Caroline Griffith, Luciano and Kris Sousa, and a huge thank you to our neighbors for all their help with the lawn and meals -- Our debt to all of you could never be repaid!!
All in all, God of course is always good to us and Dave came home just in time to head up north for J and Bek's wedding. At least it made for some good pics in the hospital -- and no, my kids and Dave did not keel over as the one pic suggests - gotta love my silly family!

Treasures of a Different Kind

The day at the beach was such a fun day. Our kids are such beach kids - good thing too since their daddy and mommy are!! They get so excited to go to the beach. It does not matter that it was a cloudy day this day, as soon as their eyes see the ocean, they are all smiles. These are some of my favorite pictures of all time. Seeing Andrew jump the waves and then flashing that grin of his just makes my heart melt and Kira -- oh my goodness, that smile she has just lights up my day. These are definitely treasured moments that I will carry with me always.

Treasured Finds at the Beach

May 10th was a wonderful day for us to share with friends at the beach celebrating Renalto and Fran's upcoming birth of baby girl Vita. The shower was at the Citadel beach house and a great time was had by all. I unfortunately got there late due to having to work but enjoyed the ending with everyone. It was so much fun to enjoy some early time at the beach too. The kids found such awesome sea creatures and shells they had to share with us. Dave and I were actually surprised by some of the beautiful colors the kids had found on shells and the like. Here are some of the wonderful pics of a wonderful day at the beach.

More fun pics from the pool

The kids are amazing and truly love summer and spending time with us and their friends. They just make us smile all the time. We love to just watch them and their fun crazy actions. It is awesome how having a child allows you to be silly and just let yourself go for their sake. Andrew loves making silly faces and always wants us to join in. On this particular day, we had a blast making silly faces with each other as daddy rested in the lounge chair next to us.