The perfect Saturday

It is 8:30 am already and we have no children in our bed on this Saturday morning. What in the world is going on? I can hear some giggling and then a knock at the bedroom door. 3 children walk into our bedroom with the biggest smile on their faces. They had made us breakfast. Breakfast in bed. On our plate was 2 waffles (pre-made) and a peeled orange all made into a smiley face on our plate. I glass of delicious juice was in a couple of a wine glasses. Aidan said, "Since you are celebrating your anniversary today, we thought we would make you breakfast in bed." By this time, my mouth was open in shock, amazement and pure joy. We enjoyed our breakfast in the peace and quite. About 15 minutes later, Carsyn and Brenna come in to take our plates to the kitchen. We layed in bed until 10:30 am. I came out into the kitchen moments later to find the kitchen all cleaned up. Dishes were washed, dried and put away. Could this really be or was I still dreaming? Did my 6, 4 and 2 year old do all this? They were all upstairs playing in their playroom. We ran up to give them hugs and kisses. My smile did not leave my face all day.

Later that afternoon, Brad and I went to an early dinner and to a movie all with a babysitter who had volunteered to watch our children. Free sitter? Really? Talk about a perfect Saturday!

Happy Anniversary

To my best friend. It has been a great 9 years! Here is to all the memories.

I love you!

The end of Summer

The week before school started, we took a trip to Michigan to visit family. Even though the trip was much faster than we would have wanted, we had so much fun seeing family and relaxing as much as we could. We miss our cousins and now that many of them have children, our children love having so many cousins to play with. I have 7 cousins on my mom's side of the family. Between their children and our children, there are 11 great grandchildren from the age of 6 1/2 to 6 weeks. There is not a dull moment!

My cousin Isaac driving the golf cart with 6 of the kids.

My cousin Ben's oldest Sadie and Brenna are best of friends. They are 2 months apart.

My cousin Sarah just got engaged as well as my cousin Daniel just with in the last month. Both of their weddings are toward the end of the year. This is Sarah's fiance, Josh. He is an officer in the Army and graciously let Aidan wear his dog tags around the house. Aidan told me when he left that he wanted to be "just like Josh when he grew up."

We got to visit Brad's dad at a yummy brunch.
A trip to Michigan would not be complete with out visiting my favorite place in the whole world. Brad and I agreed that if we had the money, this is where we would build a vacation house. Perfect weather, perfect place!

My mom and her sister enjoying a good laugh!
The 11!

Aidan, with the youngest John, Brenna, Sadie, David, Jimmy, Tyson, Sam, Carsyn, Stew and Jaxon.

Brad and I with my brother, my 7 cousins and their significant others. (Josh is not in the picture due to some Army training)

The whole family.
We were blessed to be able to go to my cousin Britney's wedding. Britney is my only female cousin on my dad's side. It was a beautiful wedding!

My Aunt and Uncle walked Brit down the isle.
Britney is a high school teacher in Saginaw, MI and her husband is a police officer.

The happy bride.

My dad, my kiddos and that bride and groom.

My Uncle Rob (dad's brother) and Brit dancing

We miss them all lots and can't wait to see everyone in November!

Back to school

We are back to school!

Alarms went off at 6 am Monday morning and these two jumped out of bed! Mommy on the other hand was a bit slower considering the long day I had on Sunday. (More on that in a later post) I am so proud of these two. Aidan is thrilled to be in 1st grade. He has done such a great job this week at watching over his sister and making sure she feels comfortable at school. Brenna started pre-K at the "big girl" school...Coal Mountain elementary. So loves being able to finally ride to work with Daddy and Aidan in the morning. She loves her teacher and loves all the new responsibility. Carsyn and I have been enjoying these last few days together, although she a bit sad she doesn't have her playmates.