10 Reasons

Just 10 of the many reasons why I'm proud to be married to Kevin:

1. He's a hard worker, both in his career and at home. Today he put in 11 hours at the office; now he's outside working on the treehouse for the boys.
2. He's a great dad. The kids light up whenever he comes home.
3. He's a servant of God. After a long day, he stopped to change a tire for a total stranger on his way home Monday night.
4. He's down to earth. Even though he's a plastic surgeon, he doesn't really mind driving a crummy car.
5. He's a plastic surgeon.
6. He loves his family, the 3 of us and his brother & parents.
7. He loves to play. He's always full of energy - ready to kick a soccer ball, fly a kite, or tickle the boys.
8. He's a great spiritual leader for our family. I've seen Kevin grow inmeasurably for God's kingdom since we met 17 years ago.
9. He's determined. I know that when he sets his mind to something, he will accomplish it.
10. He's a cutie. ;-)

My Green Thumb ;-)

I've never been a gardener until we moved here. Now I love it! My garden was already well established before we moved in, so I can't take much credit. I've planted a few things, but mostly I'm just maintaining what was already here. I just love all the plants - azaleas, irises, and so many strawberries! Almost everything is in bloom, and it looks so nice. I'm really looking forward to my hibiscus blooming, too (I may have to post another pic!). Kevin & I just bordered the garden with bricks leftover from the construction of our house, and I'm very proud of how it's all turned out. I love to just sit on my porch swing and enjoy it all.

Boys Only

Today I took the boys to a "boys only" party at the city park. It was so much fun - they raced through obstacle courses, ate mud cake and talked like pirates. They were even sent home with great goody bags that included bug catchers and plastic bugs! What fun!

Coming Soon...

... a treehouse! Kevin is building the boys a really great treehouse in the back corner of our property - complete with a slide, firemean pole, and a rock wall! We can't wait to play! I'll post pictures when he's finished. :-)

New Traditions

Carter & Bryson are at such a fun age. Every day is new and exciting in their world. It's so much fun to begin new traditions at each holiday. This year, the boys dyed eggs for the first time. On Easter Day, we hid them, hunted them, and had egg wars! (Knock 2 eggs together; the one that cracks first is out. The last egg left uncracked is the winner!) After the egg wars, we took the eggs out in the backyard and golfed them away as far as we could! We also read the Easter story from the bible together. Thank you, Jesus, for all that you gave for us! (Isn't it awesome that my Savior reads my blog?!)

The Hunt is On!

Carter & Bryson were so excited to hunt Easter eggs this year and had many opportunities! We went to a neighborhood egg hunt, had one with our Mommy & Me group, one at church, and then one just for our family. Whew! Carter says Easter is his favorite "season" - we've been hunting eggs for so long, it almost has been a season!

Boating Season!

It's offically boating season!!! We dewinterized our boat in March and took it out for the first time yesterday. It was chilly at 65 degrees with the wind gusting, but it was so much fun! We had a heater installed and tried it out yesterday. I'm still not quite ready to get into the water, but the heater kept us quite comfortable in the cool air. (Kevin got a wet suit for Christmas and will probably get in the water very soon.) We even took our little remote control boat out with us and gave it a run on the lake, but we almost lost it in the choppy water! We had a great time riding around, listening to music, and just knowing... It's boating season!!!

Elmo

This week, the boys & I went to see a live Sesame Street show on stage. They aren't too into Sesame Street anymore, so I was a little worried they wouldn't love it - but they really did! They loved seeing the larger than life characters, the brightly colored sets, and dancing to the music. Carter decided that Oscar was his favorite character (of course, since he lives in a garbage can!), and Bryson kept asking me, "Who's his name?" of all the Sesame Street friends. It was a fun time!

Easter Bunny

This week our Mommy & Me group went to the mall to visit the Easter Bunny. Bryson and Carter were so excited to sit on his lap, but already Carter is getting too smart. After our visit, he asked me, "Mommy, was that a robot or a person in a costume?". We're looking so forward to Easter this year!

Family Fun

This weekend was a busy one visiting the grandparents. My parents were in the process of moving out of their home into a rental house (They finally sold their house!!! They'll be moving here soon - I am so beyond excited! It will be so wonderful to have them near by. I was afraid to blog it before they closed on their house - I didn't want to jinx it! They've closed now, and will be breaking ground on the new house very soon!). We stayed with my parents in the evenings and visited Kevin's parents during the day so that my parents could pack and move their boxes.

With my parents' move, there were plenty of boxes around that the kids had a blast playing in. Pop-Pop even made the kids signs from extra cardboard. Bryson is pictured here with his sign; Carter's said, "My Daddy lost everything in Vegas. Anything helps. God bless." My dad's sense of humor cracks me up!

Despite the cold temperatures, we had plenty of fun at Nana's & Paw-Paw's, too. Paw-Paw took the kids on at least a dozen rides in the heated tractor and on the gator. When it warmed up a little, we had water gun fights in the yard. Nana gave the boys early Easter presents, too. We all had a great time and are looking forward to visiting again soon!

Road Trip

This weekend, Kevin had a conference in Las Vegas. Since he was leaving town, we decided to hit the road too. We drove to see Nana & Paw-Paw and Mimi & Pop-Pop in our neighboring state. But first, we stopped along the way to visit some friends in our old city at a really fun play place. Gaylee and her crew came out to spend the morning with us playing on the indoor playground and in the arts & crafts room. I was so tickled her baby Thomas's first experience with paint. He wasn't sure if he liked the pretty colors more on his paper or in his mouth! :-) Thanks, Gaylee Girl, for hanging out with us and making our long drive seem a little shorter!

After spending the morning playing with friends, we made the rest of our drive. It usually takes us about 5 1/2 hours drive time, but this trip took over 7! The weather was awful - freezing cold (with the heater going out on my truck!!!) and torrential downpours! It rained and rained and rained, sometimes so much that I couldn't see 2 car lengths in front of me. Finally, when we made it safely to the border between our states, I saw the sun for the first time. It struck me as odd because the border between the dark rain clouds and the bright sunshine was very sharp, and it was just exactly over the literal border between the 2 states!