my little helper

...and this is what she wore to the grocery store today. i love having a three year old in the house.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We got to celebrate another birthday in our house on Sunday...oh how we love birthdays!!! Especially now that we have a 3 year old in the house! We went out for a fancy lunch on Friday and the girls got to wear their prettiest dresses. Here is a list of reasons Annika and Audrey (and their mommy) love their daddy. (Annika helped me compile this list) 

You are the best daddy because you: 

1. play blocks with us

2. take us to Jake's

3. wrestle with us

4. read books with us

5. go to ice cream with us

6. ride bikes with us

7. play on daddy's skateboard 

8. draw with chalk

9. make breakfast for us

10. sing to us

11. rock us

12. kiss us

13. take good care of us

14. take us hiking

15. play tackle with me (annika;))

16. play guitar with me

17. watch dora

18. take me to lunch

(mommy's list)

19. clean and tidy up all the time

20. do laundry

21. take me out

22. play golf with me

23. always have time for me

24. keep me balanced

25. challenge me

26. sit on the couch and just read with me on cozy nights

27. let me speak Spanish to you

28. support me in my work

29. always watch the kids so I can go run/have down time

30. love me so well.

We love you so much E happy 32 to you! 

For the girls...

A while back my friend Jill sent me the following article. We already knew it, but it was nice to hear it was the topic of a lecture from a fancy Stanford prof...

They Teach It at Stanford

"In an evening class at Stanford the last lecture was on the mind-body

connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker

(head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of

the best  things that a man could do for his health is to be married

to a woman  whereas for a  woman, one of the best things she could do

for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.

 At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems

that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life

experiences. Physically this quality "girlfriend time" helps us to

create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat

depression and can create a general feeling of well being.  Women

share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities.

They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about

certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes.

Sports? Yes.  Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf?  Yes.  But their

feelings?  Rarely.

Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our

sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health.  He

said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our

general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's  a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we  are

doing  something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with

friends,  we are wasting our time and should be more productively

engaged-not  true. In fact, he said that failure to create and

maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as

dangerous to our physical health as smoking!


(ONLY photo I could find of us, sorry:) 

So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat

yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something

good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky.  Sooooo. let's

toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good

for our health."

Our husbands understand this need that we have for our girlfriends very well. Periodically they send us off for a day (or two or three if we're lucky) to reconnect and reenergize. 

I am so grateful for this time with my girlfriends.

Thank you all for being you to me!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

My Wife's Birthday

(I apologize to those reading this that it is not typical blog material, but in these last few weeks we have both been missing our community that is now scattered literally throughout the world, from Africa to Bahrain and  DC to San Diego.  The gift I wish I could have given my wife would be to have all of you together under one roof to celebrate her birthday.  Since that option is not feasible, consider this the toast I would have given her if we had all been together.)

In just a few short minutes my wife will turn 31.  Tonight as I was reflecting back on the picture that sits atop our blog, I thought about all of the unknowns marriage brings and how much you take on faith when you say those vows.  We don't know for certain how the other will handle kids, career changes, family, friends, growing older, etc.  We hope that the character of the person we see in front of us will remain steadfast and true over time.

As I get to watch my wife more and more, see her handle life transitions, uncertainty, motherhood, and mostly me, I can only give many thanks to God for bringing her into my life, for being the mother of my children, and for being an amazing partner to walk through life with.

Kara, everyday, in so many small yet significant ways, you make me love you more than I knew possible.  Your authenticity and creativity are inspiring; you are a beautiful model for our girls to emulate, and for that I will be forever grateful.  You are more amazing to me today than the day that picture in the vineyard was taken... and that's saying something.

Happy Birthday babe, I love you so much.
E

Sisters

{I know, not a great picture of me and lynds, but we don't have many of just the two of us together} This is from a recent night out for lynds and kevin and me and eric. It was the first time we had EVER hung out without kids as Eric came into my life right about the time Ethan was born. We had a blast. I am so glad my girls have each other to grow up with just like I had my sister. 

little sassy pants

I thought Annika was a little firecracker...

I

I had no idea what awaited us with this little one...

Her daddy says she is just like her sister was at that age and that I just don't remember...hmmm...

 She was so mild, so sweet her first year of life.

she has become a force to be reckoned with

                                                        
So spunky. So fun. We wouldn't have it any other way.

Here is a little peak into your life at 15 months Audrey Leigh:
-You have a mouth full of teeth...seriously I think you have them all already
-You have quite a few words (but only use them when you want to).
-You still give the best open mouthed slobbery kisses
-You say "I yuh you"
-You love to sing and dance
-When we pray before dinner you are practically bouncing out of your seat by the closing because you know it is time to eat. You LOVE to eat.
-At 15 months you are still not walking, although we know you can. Today you took 4 or 5 steps when you thought no one was looking, but I caught you! You better believe you wouldn't do it again though!
-You are still an awesome sleeper. I think you love to sleep almost as much as your mommy...that is impressive little one;)
-Books and blocks are your favorite things to play with.
-You love your big sister and are always so excited to see her in the morning. However, you two already fight like sisters. Awesome. Honestly,  I am more worried about you picking on her than vice versa. Must be a younger sister thing;)
-You are getting little curls as your hair grows out just like your sister.
-You are so much fun Audrey. We love you to the moon and back!