Dear Emma

 

Dear Emma,

Today is your 1st birthday and I don't know where this year has gone! It was one year ago today that you made your rapid entrance into the world and our lives are all the better now that you are in our family. I can think of no better way to put it than to say you are a TRUE JOY.

I find myself at a loss for words trying to describe how much I adore your personality. You intrigue me to no end! Where your sister and I share a lot of similarities in the way we view the world, you my dear, are a beautiful mystery to me. You are sweeter than anything, cheerful, easy-going and every time I look at you I can't imagine how I could possibly love you any more. You are a ham and know how to work the crowd, charming strangers instantly with that smile of yours. You have a way of capturing the attention and hearts of everyone in the room but you do it so subtly! People don't know what hit them but all of a sudden they realize they adore you and that you have them wrapped completely around your little finger. Twice.

You are just beginning to talk and sometimes I drop things on purpose just to hear you say my favorite: "uh oh." Today we took you to the zoo for the very first time and I loved watching you take in the bear exhibit. Your eyes were as bright as I've ever seen them and you kept pointing and grinning and couldn't look away from those big brown beasts. Made my day!

There have been many times in the past year where I think about the first couple weeks of your life and I am overcome with emotion. Oh how you scared us with your illness! I am beyond grateful for your life and healing and the renewed perspective not to take a single moment foregranted. My prayer for you is that you would grow up to love the Lord will all your heart and that you would follow Him always. That your precious spirit would continue to draw people and that God would use you in big ways. You are beautiful both inside and out.

Happy Birthday Emma Dear!

Love,
Mom

Dear Isla

Dear Isla,

Today you turn 3 years old. THREE years! It was on this day three years ago that you fulfilled one of my biggest dreams and made me a mama. You are a beautiful, tender-hearted and independent girl and I love every part of you. I've never known a child to take on the world with such curiosity. You want to know the whats and whys and hows of every single thing we pass every second of the day. You are hilarious and I can never quite anticipate what is going to come out of your mouth. Lately you love to talk about Jesus, disobedience and Mickey Mouse's house, sometimes all three at once.

Last night my heart nearly burst when we were at the Farmer's Market and you heard music playing. The sparkle in your bright eyes as you looked up and said "Hey Mom! Let's go dance!" was priceless. How could I say no? You were the first in the crowd to think of turning the grass into a dance floor. I can't even begin to describe how my heart swelled with pride as you ran out in front of the musicians and just started to twirl. I so admire your free-spirit and courage. I hope you never lose it. And maybe you could share some of it with me?

You are a strong girl and I have no doubt you will go places. I pray that your dad and I would parent you well, create an enviroment where you thrive, nuture your little personality, and teach you channel that will power to do big things. But mostly I pray that we would help you to understand with full confidence that you are loved beyond measure, for who you are, by us but even more so by our great God.

You are my curly beauty and I will always love you. No matter what. Happy, Happy Birthday Isla Girl!

Love,
Mom

How to love a Type A

We all know some Type "A"s. My husband happens to live with one (or quite possibly 3-poor guy!) How on earth do you show a Type A you love 'em? I've been pondering this very thing lately and here are a few ideas:

1. Spell their name correctly.
2. Pay attention to detail.
3. Remember and acknowledge their birthday.
4. Clean up after yourself and if you really want to gain some bonus points, do something totally crazy intricate like dust the blinds and then emphasize profusely how you just happened to notice how dirty they were and that it really needed to be done.
5. Be early or on time.
6. When giving an award for years of service, aim to give it within that year you are honoring. It loses its meaning (slightly) if you hang onto it for an additional year.
7. If you forget something important, apologize, apologize, apologize and then it's probably a good idea to admit you are wrong. Trying to make up for an omission only makes it worse.
8. Notice the little things like a haircut or a toenail polish change (ok, the latter might be a bit excessive but you get the picture...)
9. Listen attentively. You're busted if you make them repeat themselves!

I'm sure there are a gazillion other ways but these are what came to my mind first. Now how do you love a Type "B"? You Type Bs, do fill me in because I think I live with one (although he claims to be a type "C")!

San Juan Islands - Day 5

Alas, all fun trips must come to an end. If I do say so myself, our 5 day adventure was a perfect length. We packed up and headed out early to get in line for the ferry.

After a cheap breakfast (wow food prices are high in Seattle!) at a cafe above the ferry dock, we boarded the boat.

The Leverkuhn and Welch families

Apparently us girls were feeling the pink zip-ups! Graham didn't get the memo...

I taught Emma to give kisses on the ferry boat.

Once back on the mainland, Isla entertained me with her different faces as we drove.

The whole group! Thanks all for the great trip!

San Juan Islands - Day 4

It just so happened that the Courter family was also on the island with their family over the same weekend as us. We decided to meet up at their private, sandy beach which was awesome! The kids got to play in the sand.

And the adults and kids alike got to take the kayaks out! Isla loved it and wanted to go out again with me when it was my turn. There was a whole herd (?) school (?) of seals swimming by that took interest so the kids got to see them up close.

These girls are 1 month apart and I pray that grow to be fast friends because their parents really like each other too.

Benny Boy!

We stayed at the beach until it started raining on our parade at which point we returned to the house for naps. Graham and I lucked out because both girls went down together which provided us with a moment to lay out and read in the sun (it was warm back on the north side of the island).

The girls at play

We ordered takeout Thai food for dinner...

...and Emma discovered a really cool new game to play with her plate.

San Juan Islands - Day 3

As most of the internet is already aware, I took and plunge and officially signed up for my first half marathon. There are moments where I'm super excited and moments (like when I'm running uphill pushing a stroller in the blazing sun for instance) where I think I am literally crazy. Anyhow, thus far the longest run I have managed on my own is about 7 miles I think (granted, "on my own" = me and a double stroller carrying two growing girls). I have this mental block that leads me to believe I "can't" make long distances without a running buddy to distract me. So, I made it a personal goal that while on this trip, I would overcome that block and run for 1 1/2 hours all by myself. I downloaded an audiobook on Graham's I-pod touch and took off from our rental house, determined to keep at it for 90 minutes. And I did it! I must say the change in scenery from my normal routes was lovely. Though the above picture was not taken on my run, I did get to run along the water which was great. Per my rough calculations, I think I did ~9.3 miles (a lot of which were hilly) and most importantly I proved to myself I was capable of running longer distances on my own.

After my run, I came back to a delicious quiche breakfast (thanks to the Welchs) and then we loaded up and headed to the opposite side of the island to South Beach. It was so gorgeous with the Olympic Mountains as a backdrop! And, best of all, the beach did not consist of mucky tar and so the kids were able to play.

The water was COLD as illustrated by poor Isla's expression below. She was so eager to swim but turned right back around after dipping her toes
 

Graham took the girls for a little drive once the crankiness set in to try and facilitate naps. His success was marginal but they slept long enough to buy us enough time for an ice cream stop in Friday Harbor.

We bought Isla her very first ice cream cone and, wouldn't ya know it, she chose her flavor based on color ("the purple one.")

I had salted caramel which was amazing and reminded me that I need to try and figure out how to make some myself.

I also got an iced latte after tasting Graham's which was incredible. We were on vacation AND I'd ran 9.3 miles that morning...

We stumbled upon some music in the park which of course our little dancer* stopped to enjoy. (*Note the purple ice cream aftermath!)

A day in the sand + ice cream = bath time (*cough* blackmail photo op) for the kids as soon as we arrived home.

That evening the Welchs treated us to a delicious fajita dinner on the lawn complete with Mexican music, margaritas and conversations about how marriage has changed us (it was Jon & Britta's 5th Anniversary but somehow I neglected to get any pictures of them!) This dinner ended up being my favorite part of the trip.

San Juan Islands - Day 2

 The nice thing about each couple having at least one kid is that our mornings all started about the same time for everyone. I recall many vacations where I would have an hour or two to kill after Isla woke me up, waiting for the rest of the crew to emerge. But that wasn't the case on this trip--there was company to join me around the coffee pot! :) On morning number one, Graham and I whipped up some Blueberry Dutch Babies and fresh pineapple to go with the coffee. It was the first time attempting this particular pancake recipe but it is by far our new favorite for Dutch Babies.

We didn't have concrete plans for the day but opted to pack up some lunch foods and head into Roche Harbor to see what we could find (pictured above). The town was super cute and would be an awesome, quiet place for a waterfront getaway.

 We set up camp in the shade near the Roche Harbor Resort. Unfortunately the beach area was more like muddy tar than sand and so the kids really couldn't go out there and play. But, a nearby sprinkler entertained the water-seekers. 

 Poor Oliver was outnumbered by girls on this trip. I'm sure someone else will have a boy eventually!

 After our picnic, we headed back to the house for naps for the kids, sunbathing for the women and....hmmmm....I have no idea what the guys were doing!

Graham and I prepared a huge batch of pasta with fresh corn, zucchini, bacon, peas and parmesan for dinner that we ate along with a salad, bread and wine. The from our dinner was top notch as the house had a long, grassy backyard that led right up to the bay. 'Twas the life!