Last night we had a great time.  When I got home from work, I packed up some food and we all headed down to the river to have a picnic and enjoy the weather.  Rory had such a good time that at one point she looked up at me and said, "I happy."  Now how sweet is that?  In fact, the poor girl bawled when we had to leave.  I think we are going to try to make it a weekly event this summer, so long as the weather is nice.  Here are some photos from our little adventure.

Rory and Griffin enjoying the picnic

Griffin was happy to get in the water!

I love my two goofballs!

Rory brought along the fishing pole she got for her birthday to try out for the first time!  She's been practicing with it by casting it down the stairs in the house and reeling it in.

Same photo, but I kind of liked it in black & white.  

We promised Rory that we'd go back to the river today with the boat, but of course, the wind has picked up so it doesn't look like we're going to be able to.  Maybe tomorrow.  I hope everyone has a good weekend!

Last night, Rory was sitting on my lap when she noticed I had a dollar bill sticking out of my pocket.  She grabbed it, and was excited to check it out.  She unfolded the bill, opening it to see George Washington's face when, looking confused she said, "Jesus?"

Wouldn't that be the day when Jesus's face appeared on the one dollar bill? )

Josey and I have recently been serving on a new committee at church that focuses on stewardship in both the church and in everyday life.  In the last week or two, the two of us have been talking a lot about things that we would like to see in our church and also ways that the two of us can share our time, talents, and treasures.  When I first started thinking about it, I thought, "I just don't have that much time," and  "I really can't think of any talents that I have that I can use to help others."  The truth is, though, that when I really started to think about it, I have to be willing to make time, and secondly, I have plenty of talents that I can use to help others.  In fact, I realized that I have spent lots of time and used many different talents to do just that.  So, the question is, how can I do more?  I think it is important for everone to think about this from time to time.  In this busy life, are you making time to do good?  Are you using the talents and treasures that God has given you to help others?

You may have noticed the link on the right for Rory's scrapbook.  I really love digital scrapbooking, and there is a really big on-line community of digital scrapbookers who share their work and give inspiration to others, design new kits, etc.   At Songbird Avenue, many of the best designers in the digital scrapbooking world come together to create an amazing kit each month, and then all of the proceeds from that kit go to a special charity.  This, to me, is such a great example of how others are using their time, talent, and treasure to do good.

In the month of May, a beautiful kit called Take Flight was created, and 100% of the profits will benefit the Susan G. Koman Foundation.  I love this kit, and have been waiting for the perfect photo to use it with.  I thought that the kite photo from yesterday would go perfectly with the theme of the kit, so I added a vintage touch to the photo, and this is what I came up with.  I just love all of the colors, and best of all, it is in support of all the talented girls at Songbird Avenue and the charity this month.

Rory got a kite from Carole last week.  It has been hanging in the entry way ever since, and Rory has asked to play with it several times.  It wasn't for lack of wind that we didn't play with it, Lord knows we have enough of that, but for lack of time.  Yesterday we took it out and let her fly it, and she loved it.  At one point, she let go of the string, and daddy ended up chasing the kite half way to the road before he caught up to it!  Rory just stood there and giggled.  Okay, I stood there and giggled, too.  It was funny!

This weekend was the third wedding, three weekends in a row, that we've been to, and again I helped out the bride and groom with their flowers.  Our friends John and Jackie got married, and it was a great wedding.  It was great to see such a wonderful couple get married, and it was also great to see all of our old friends again.  It was kind of a rushed day because the wedding was in Center, so I actually didn't get many photos of the flowers, and the ones I did get weren't great.  Here are a few, though that turned out okay.  Everything was beautiful, and thank you again to Jenny for all your help!

Pew decorations

Altar arrangement

The bride's bouquet

Happy birthday to the sweetest two year old I know!  I just cannot get over the fact that she's two already.  She is not my little baby anymore, but her cheeks are still as kissable as the day she was born, and I love her more than ever. This morning, when I went to get her out of her bed, I asked her if she knew what day it was, and she said, "Happy birthday ME!" 

This birthday girl, first thing this morning…

Rory, how old are you today?  (That sort of looks like two fingers; right?)

 Some of what Rory is up to these days…

• She loves to sing. There are many times when, out of nowhere, she'll bust into song. "Winkle, winkle, attle starrrrrr…" When we get into the car, she immediately asks for her Bible songs. She knows what song is on which cd, and sometimes demands to hear a certain song over and over again. Mommy loves that, let me tell you.
• She doesn't stay on one thing for long, but when it comes to taking care of her babies, she could play for hours. She gives them a bath (in the step stool turned upside down), gives them medicine, changes their diapers, feeds them bottles, burps them (sound effects and all), wraps them in a blanket, puts them to bed telling mommy to, "shhh, Abby sleepin," takes them to the zoo in the stroller. She is such a good little babysitter.
• She is constantly opening and closing the doors in the hallway. I'll go into my room to get the laundry out of the closet, and she is right behind me. I barely turn around to grab the laundry, and both the closet door and the bedroom door are closed on me. It's really handy when your hands are full. And somehow she must turn the lock on her bedroom door as she's closing it, and she often locks herself into her room.
• If you try to get her to do something such as get in the car or sit at the table for a meal, she'll run away from you giggling. It is the cutest giggle, and she thinks she's really funny. If we're in the house, she'll usually run away giggling into her room, slamming the door behind her, and hides under her bed. She is fast, too.
• If you say, "Rory, I love you," she'll respond with, "love you, too."  Melts my heart every single time.
• She loves to play outside, and screams when it's time to come in.
• In addition to the last one, she really knows how to throw a temper tantrum when something doesn't go her way.  Lots of fun.
• She is definitely Miss Independent.  "I do it."  How many times a day do I hear that?
• Daddy taught her to say, "Peace out!" rather than good bye.  She picked up, "ohmygoodness," (yes, all one word) from mommy.  She will sometimes add on a "buddy" to the end of her sentences…"Clean up, buddy." 

She is a busy little girl with lots of personality, that's for sure! 

As of today, it’s been three years since Josey and I got married.  In some ways, I can’t believe that it has already been three years; that it doesn’t seem like it has been that long.  In other ways, I can’t believe it has only been three years; that it seems like we’ve done so much in that time that it must have been longer.  Either way, it has been the best three years of my life.  It hasn’t always been easy.  At times, there have been arguments, financial stresses, health problems, projects that haven’t gone our way, jobs that haven’t been as enjoyable as we’d have liked, a baby that wouldn’t sleep…I could go on.  But no matter what the two of us have gone through, we’ve gone through it together.  We’ve never had to do anything alone.  We’ve always had the support of one another.  In the last three years, we’ve experienced the two greatest blessing that God could ever give us; a marriage and a child.

Josey, I am so grateful to have you as my husband.  I love you more today than I did three years ago, and I look forward to all of the years we have to come.

The music playing is the music from our wedding day.  Josey and I always talk about how there are certain songs that you hear from time to time, and you can instantly remember something you were doing while listening to that song.  Well, listening to those two songs definitely take me right back to the moments of standing at the altar, looking at my husband for the first time, and our first dance as husband and wife.

A photo from our wedding day.  (Sorry, it’s not the best quality because it is a picture of a picture.)  Photo credit:  Picture Perfect Photography 

You know the saying!  We had an ice cream party for Rory’s birthday this year.  We had homemade ice cream with all the toppings you could imagine.  We have had way too much stuff going on in the past few weeks (and in weeks to come), but I’m glad that we were able to find time for her party.  She had such a fun time.

Here are some photos of the decorations and details of the party.

Invitations

Ice cream cones everywhere!

Rory LOVED the balloons!

Yummy cupcakes!

Lots of ice cream toppings.

These were for, as Rory would say, "all my friends."

Well, only a couple more days and my baby will be two.  Wow.  This weekend, we had a birthday party for her.  It was a busy weekend.  We went to a wedding on Saturday, had family in town, and then had the party on Sunday.  My friend Erin came, and Saturday evening after Rory went to bed, we decorated the house for the party.  Sunday morning when Rory woke up, she caught a glimpse of the decorations and excitedly said, "WHAT’S THAT?"  She ran out into the kitchen and exclaimed, "Rations! (decorations)  Mine party!"

The party went great, and Rory had a blast, but the poor girl had developed pink eye, and you could tell she wasn’t feeling her best, especially by the end of the day.  She stuck it out, though, and after everyone left, she spent the last few hours of the day playing with all of her new toys.  Thank you everyone for coming to share the day with us, and for all the gifts.  She is truly a blessed girl to have so many people who love her so much!

I personally didn’t take many photos of the event, but luckily I had Erin there to get some good snapshots of everything for me.  Thanks Erin!  Be prepared for photo overload.  (I’ll probably post photos of some of the decorations I made for the party tomorrow so as not to overload this post too much.)

While she was taking a nap, we blew up a ton of balloons.  She was super excited to see them when she woke up.  Notice the lovely bed head!

Still smiling, even with owie eyes.

Blowing out her candles!  The 2′s on the cupcakes were made of chocolate, and she was stealing them off of all the other cupcakes, she liked them so much.

Opening gifts.

Mommy and Daddy got her a new trike!

And there’s even a seat for Joycee!

She loves this tunnel.  Many thanks to the Jacobsen’s!

Helping Daddy give rides in her wagon behind the lawn mower.

I’m so glad she had a fun time.  Luckily, by the time she went to bed this evening, her eyes were feeling much better.  We’ve been really lucky this year, and she has hardly been sick (knock on wood), so it was hard for Josey and I to see her not feeling well.  She’s such a sweet girlie.