Happy Anniversary, My Love ~

Well, honey, we survived... we survived the EF-5 one year ago today and we have survived being married to each other for the past 8 years.  You are my best friend, a great husband and an awesome daddy.  While the going has been rough at times, I wouldn't have wanted anyone else by my side through it all. 

I LOVE YOU ALWAYS AND FOREVER!

Our Little Monkey’s Birthday Party

I know this entry is out of order (by date), but I just received his party pictures today… and I'm sorry, but I added a ton of them to this blog!!

Eli’s party was on April 28^th @ Bethany Baptist Church east of Carthage from 3-5 pm.  We had 48 attendees, 12 of those being kids.  Obviously from the title, the theme was monkeys.  We furthered this theme by serving banana splits along with cake.  The tables were decorated with stuffed monkeys and jars full of banana runt candy.  We were surprised when a friend brought balloon animal supplies and passed out balloon monkeys for the kids.  We had a kid table set up with crayons and jungle/monkey stickers, monkey coloring pages and monkey masks.  The kids enjoyed something that they could do that belonged to them.  So fun!! 

Eli enjoyed the cake smashing and was great entertainment for everyone there.  The most hilarious part was when he gave up using his hands and just went full-face into the cake!!  Afterwards, we had to wash him off in the bathroom sink.  Our child likes water so much that he cried when we took him out!  That time in the bathroom with just Mommy, Daddy, Gramma and a few others was so memorable.  A perfect “family moment” from the rest of the party.

We are so appreciative for all the great gifts Eli received.  Unfortunately, Eli didn’t have any interest in trying to open any of them, but all the other kids enjoyed “helping” open them.  A few of the kids even needed to try out the toys… to make sure they were fun enough to keep!  Ha ha  It was chaotic but lots of fun.  Eli was so well behaved the entire time, surprisingly, even though he’d already been to the b-day party of his buddy, Asher, earlier that day.  Asher’s 2^nd b-day party theme was trains, specifically Thomas the Train, so when Eli received a Thomas the Train book, Eli, Asher and Miss Amy were more than happy to sit and read together while the other kids finished opening Eli’s gifts!!!

Overall, while a great time, I think next year’s party will be a bar-b-que in our front yard with immediate family only.  That is my opinion of a truly great party.

Happy 2nd Mother's Day (to me!)

Hard to believe that the last Mother's Day was celebrated with my brand new, 3-week old son.  My, how things have changed!!  I guess I can say this is my 1st "real" Mother's day since Eli's adoption was finalized in February... though I always felt like I was Eli's real mommy. 

I had a great day today - - woke up and got kisses from son and husband (no breakfast in bed, though), went to church, lunch with my family and grandparents, afternoon/dinner with Sapp family, came home and Sam bathed Eli and put him to bed and gave me some much needed quiet time.  I love my family!!!!

Here are a few pics from Mother's Day 2012:

One Happy Family!!

Just Reminiscing…

This entry has nothing to do with Eli (sorry, Papa!) unless I’m just sad about how quickly time is moving. I looked on my calendar this morning and realized that Sam and I moved into our “new” home 4 YEARS AGO TODAY! So much has happened in 4 years and yet, it seems like only yesterday.

Additionally, 4 years ago today was the tornado that took out part of Monett and all of Pierce City. I know this because we’d barely moved our boxes in when the sirens started happening and I was so upset, screaming at the sky, “you stay away from my new house!” With the coming of the one year anniversary of the Joplin tornado, it makes me grateful that twice in 4 years, we have been extremely close to a tornado and yet been safe both times. Thank you, Jesus!

Daddy's Day

So I (Sam) unexpectedly had the Monday of Eli's actual birthday off with him. What a great day! I can't believe that we had him for a year and going through the pictures of the last year, I can't believe how fast he has grown up. I'm so glad that I was able to be home for this wonderful day and appreciate the gift that God gave us in our special little guy.